fatalis
by Firefly Rebirth
Summary: fatalis -e [relating to destiny or fate; fated , destined by fate]; in bad sense, [deadly, fatal]. Adv. fataliter, [according to fate]. *COMPLETED*
1. caelestis

**_caelestis_**_ -e [belonging to heaven , coming from heaven]; n. pl. as subst. [things in heaven, heavenly bodies]. Transf., [belonging to the gods, celestial, divine, superhuman]; as subst., esp. plur., [the gods]._

**Act I, Scene One**: Caelestis:  A shred of light.

            Riku hadn't been able to find the road again.

            The road that had led him into darkness.

            Riku had already reached the end of that road.

            _"We call it…Caelestis.  Ironic, huh?"_

            _Yeah, ironic_, thought Riku presently, remembering the time he had come into the city.  The time when he came across the first person that had not attempted to kill him.

            _"Coming from heaven…ironic.  This is the city of fallen angels, all right."_  And the man had laughed, and patted Riku's shoulder, and left.

            And that had been almost three years before.  Riku's numerous escape attempts had ended in failure.  Once you entered Caelestis, there was no way out.  Or maybe Caelestis was all that existed.  Maybe this void with no shred of light was all that lay beyond the sealed Door to Darkness.

            Riku pushed his way past a pair of lovers who apparently were lacking completely in modesty.  Finally he was inside.  Finally he left the freezing night for the choking, heavy air of the club _Liberi_.  He removed his jacket to expose dark blue clothes hugging a near-starved body.  In this, Riku had adopted the look of most Caelestis inhabitants.

            Most people were drawn out, long and thin, faces and all.  Clothes, especially for women, were tight, revealing, and more times than not shimmered.  Everything seemed dark—eyes were dark, hair was dark, moods were dark.

            Everyone carried a large chip on his shoulder.  Not once had Riku heard a kind word uttered since he had first arrived.  The masses pushed by each other, perhaps even purposely stepping on each other.  Thievery and assault went on just as frequently as conversation.  Dead bodies lying abandoned on the street…well, Riku had seen his fair share of those.

            Nobody cared about anything but himself.  The eternal night of the city was a time to chase after pleasure—whether this be obtained in the glittering casino or deep within one of the numerous brothels.  Men and women alike gorged themselves on strong alcoholic drinks and expensive food.  Some people showed this by their large bellies, but most of them were older men who had long given up on impressing anyone.

            In appearance, Riku blended in.  In behavior, however, Riku rarely succeeded.

            The nineteen-year-old forced himself to grimace and began to rudely shove at those clogging the stairway down into the large room filled with jazz and smoke.  If he had politely slipped through, people would have noticed.  This way, he was invisible.

            Over the many months, Riku had learned what _not_ to do.  Don't say thank you, don't cough in the smoke, don't pretend to like the music no matter how good it is.  Right now Riku was working on ignoring the beautiful women parading around the open floor between tables; if your eyes wandered for more than ten seconds, they considered you a customer.

            He came to the bar and slid up onto one of the stools, his forearms setting heavily on the polished, obsidian-like surface.  He reached in his front pocket and found out that his wallet was still there.

            A disinterested waiter walked over and stared blankly at him.

            "Get me…a beer and a plate of…whatever you're serving tonight."  Sometimes Riku was surprised at how much he sounded like everyone else.  His voice was very deep now, always rumbling within his throat.

            "House special," called the waiter dimly and stumbled off into the back.

            Riku let his hard blue eyes take in the room.  The ceiling was high; the carpets and curtains of red velvet; the air filled with gray-brown smoke; the packed booths had cushioned chairs and wooden tables covered in beer stains.  Along the wall farthest from the stairs was a slightly raised stage.  On it, a dumpy looking man rolled his fingers over a grand piano, a skinny boy plucked at a bass, and a few nondescript characters were blowing away at saxophones and trumpets.

            Riku tried not to give it away, but the music here was the only enjoyable thing he'd yet encountered since leaving his friends at the Destiny Islands almost four years ago.  The fight against Sora certainly hadn't been pleasant.

            But he was a man, now, and he could take it.  He'd decided to seal up the Door to Darkness because he had had to atone.  His sins against his friends—his sins against the entire universe, even—had been grave.  The only hope he had for Sora and Kairi's happiness was to shut the Door, with him inside or out.

            When it arrived, Riku took a gulp of his drink (he'd given up sipping, because it, too, drew attention).   Images of battles with Sora rushed to his mind and he inwardly shuddered.  He felt a pain in his chest.

            _Good_, he thought.  He still had a heart somewhere.  He had done his best to conceal it with darkness, but it wasn't gone altogether.  _Good_.

            Of course, the shreds of his heart were probably more than existed in the whole rest of Caelestis.  And because Riku fancied himself such a horrible person, this thought was depressing.

            Suddenly, at the top of the stairs, the door flung open to let in the rainy, bitter night.  People were screaming, and there was the all-to-familiar sound of blood being spattered on pavement.

            Murmurs arose in the crowd.

            "Shut that damn door!" screeched a woman at the bottom of the stairs.  "The Heartless'll come in _here_!"

            The crowd grew louder.  The girls on the floor backed up against partners, looking around worriedly.

            A heavyset man who apparently was responsible for keeping open the door came tripping down into the main room, his eyes darting from person to person.

            "They're attacking!  I've never seen it so bad!" he screeched.  He was close enough for Riku to see how the sweat glued his thin hair to his head, how he was panting, how blood dripped down his leg.  "Everyone's going to die!"

            "You old drunk," said a surly woman.  "The Heartless are always attacking.  Go outside and let them shut you up for good."

            "What—What if they come _inside_?" this time it was a younger woman, close up against a man who didn't seem to mind at all.

            "Those damn monsters—!"

            "We're all going to die anyway…"

            "They've never come inside before; why would they now?"

            "If we die, it'll just add to their numbers!"

            Riku stopped to eat his food (some indistinguishable group of flavored substances) and dropped his tab on the plate.  The waiter, who was successfully ignoring the loud argument, snatched up the money before anyone else could, and happily stalked off to recycle the dirty plate.

            Riku slipped his coat back on and spun around on the stool.  A fistfight had broken out, with the man from outside right in the middle and a mob right on top of him.  The victim's face was already bruised and bloodied, and it seemed he'd long ago lost his stamina for such an engagement.

            "Hold on!" came a faint but strong voice.

            The forty or so people in the room all turned their heads to look at the newcomer.  She was a lovely, short, slim young lady with dark chestnut skin and raven hair.  She was wearing a backless, sleeveless black dress with a knit shawl over her presumably cold shoulders.  She ran forward now, down the stairs on three-inch heels (and flawlessly).

            "Stop it!"  She hurried forth to stand in the midst of the mob, which, thankfully, had stopped for the time being.

            "What do you care?"

            "I…" she was recovering her breath.  Riku watched her carefully, gaining interest by the second.  He sensed something from this girl, but he couldn't put a finger on it.  Now she stood cockily, one hand on one smooth, round hip.  "He's my commission for tonight.  Leave him alone."

            "_This_?" said one disbelieving offender, holding the collar of his now unconscious prey.  Chuckles ripped through the crowd.  The man snickered and dropped the casualty before the focus of the club returned to normal.

            Riku approached the woman swiftly.  He watched her crouch over the man and heard her mumble something like, "You've done it again."

            She sensed him at last when the material of his coat shifted audibly.  She spun and looked at him with fierce, determined eyes.

            Riku just stared back.  He couldn't explain the feeling racing through his veins as their eyes met.  Her eyes were hard and focused, much like his—but totally different from any eyes he had encountered in Caelestis.

            "Who are you?" she asked, her eyes taking him in with equal excitement and interest.

            "I…I'm Riku."

            "Riku…well…if you have time to stare at me like that, then you have time to come back to my place."  She stood up and adjusted her shawl.

            _Oh no_, he thought; was she just another one of those?

            "Get him," she ordered.  "Come on, now."  She flashed a quirky smile for any onlookers and began for the exit.

            Riku easily plucked up the man.  The burden was a little much, but Riku had always been powerful, his body ever muscular and thin.  The stairs were awkward, but he really wanted to keep up as the woman slipped out the door.

            Really, she was just a wisp of a thing; she was shorter than most people, and her face was a smooth oval, but somehow she had an air of maturity that prevented her from seeming, in any way, a child.  There was something about her that he couldn't dare lose, so he shifted the two hundred pound man slung over his shoulder and hurried.

            The woman took the main street for a while before switching to a confusing path that involved climbing over hobos and ducking under low overhangs (a major problem for the more than six feet of Riku).  Finally, the woman pushed a key into the lock of a large apartment complex that was on the fringes of the brothels district.  They came to a stairwell where she inserted another key (which she retrieved from another place on her person), and another keyhole came up at the top of the stairs and there were two others just to get into the small, sparsely decorated front room of the apartment.

            The woman was constantly looking from here to there, behind her, and in front of her.  At most noises she gave a start.  However, once they were all locked up again in the apartment, she cooled considerably.  Her shawl fell to the floor.

            "Get him on the bed.  I wonder if he's still alive."  This last part she mumbled to herself as she disappeared into an adjoining room.

            "He's alive," Riku said, searching for a bed.  He went to the door opposite the one his companion had disappeared into and found himself in a small but lushly decorated bedroom, complete with a three-inch red carpet and a bed with silvery silk sheets.

            The woman came in at last, in her hands a steaming bucket of water and some cloth.  She immediately went to attend to the unconscious drunk, who was barely breathing.

            "Is he going to make it?" Riku wondered, slinking back towards the wall.

            "I…I don't know."  She wrung the cloth out and began to wipe the dried blood and dirt from the man's face.  She lowered her head to the chest.  "He's breathing.  I think he's just passed out."

            "Is it true?" Riku said.

            "Is what true?"  Her dark hands plunged back into the steaming water.

            "Him…  He's your customer?"

            She let out a light sort of chuckle.  "Heh.  Yeah, he has been a couple times.  He's mostly a raving drunk, but…but he's never hurt me…"  The way she said it, not getting hurt seemed like a rare thing.  "When I was coming by I saw him go into _Liberi_ screaming.  It's happened before…I knew they would gang up on him again—they always do."

            Riku considered her carefully.  She had frozen in the middle of what she was doing.  Her eyes were on the man's face as he slowly came awake.

            "Um, could you just head into the kitchen for a few minutes?  I'll take him out of here."  She stood, still not facing the young man behind her.

            Riku nodded and did as the woman had asked.  He shut himself up in the kitchen and sat down at a wooden table on a single chair.  He noticed she had only the bare necessities—cupboards, a small refrigerator, and a hot plate.  The room itself was very small.  The bedroom had been the largest room so far in this place.

            Riku heard some muffled talking and thumping growing nearer.  In less than ten minutes, he heard the front door squeak open.

            Riku was very thirsty, so he headed over to the refrigerator.  Inside was an unopened bottle of wine, some fruit and prepared sandwiches, as well as a large jug of water.  Had he been anyone else in this wretched city, he would have taken the lot and hurried far away with it.

            Had he been anyone else.

            Riku shut the refrigerator door and decided to wait to ask permission.

            He occupied himself with strolling around the kitchen, remarking inwardly about how clean the girl kept it.  He stopped at the yellow-white electric light hanging from the top corner.  It was giving off an annoying buzz, humming and sputtering as it shed its uneven waves over the room.

            Riku caught himself watching as the lines between light and darkness rose and fell across the whitewashed walls.  He himself had tried to hang onto that wavering light.  He himself had failed and, ultimately, ended up…

            "Are you still here?" called a voice, brimming with hope and worry all at once.

            She'd returned.

            "Yes, has he gone now?"  Riku stepped out into the living area, where he found his host draped tiredly on a couch.

            "I helped him downstairs.  I was going to take him back to his place, but he said he was all right.  He even gave me some munny."  Her lips curved into a half smile.  "First time anyone's paid me for being considerate in this place."

            Riku was reflective.  He still had the hood of his coat up, his face still shrouded.  He was towering over her as she sat across the room.

            Her head came up slowly to meet the visible shines in his eyes.  Riku criticized himself for thinking her such a simple-faced girl before; he noticed, now that she was under the rays of her chandelier, that she was in fact quite striking.

            "Riku…" she began.  She smacked her violet-painted lips together, thinking.

            "I don't know your name," he pointed out suddenly for lack of anything else to say.  He wanted her to speak, to keep listening to that voice that held something he'd not heard for years.

            "Avarielle."  Her eyes revealed something wistful.  "I don't know if anyone else here even knows that."

            "Avah-ree-el?"

            "Just call me Ava," she said.  "If you can't pronounce it."

            "I can…just let me have a few tries.  Avarielle… Avarielle… Avarielle…see?  I've got it."

            She gave him a smug look from over her nose.  "All right.  Well, if you're in a hurry, you can just use Ava."  The young woman put both hands around her long hair and guided the little waves down over the back of the reclining chair.  "Come on and sit down."

            Riku already knew that her orders were orders.  He came to rest on a small sofa perpendicular to the way she was facing.  Carefully, he took down his hood to reveal shoulder length blue-silver hair.

            "Riku."  She slid her knees beneath her and her arms and face over the armchair, so she was nearly leaning over him.  "To find someone like you in this city of sin…"  She reached out, almost like she wanted to touch his face.

            "I didn't know there was someone else…" he mumbled, taking her hand.

            "You have it too, then…"

            "A shred of light…"


	2. igniculus

**_igniculus_**_ -i m. [a little fire , flame, spark].___

**Act I, Scene Two**: Igniculus

            Riku looked up to see what had brushed by his bare feet, which were hanging very awkwardly over the end of the couch.  It was rare that he slept on anything that could fit all six feet and four inches of him, and this case was no exception.

             Standing over him was Avarielle.  Her hair was back in three loose braids, and she was wearing a fluffy gray robe.  Her arms were crossed over her middle, for warmth, and her gentle chocolate eyes were resting comfortably on him.

            "Couldn't sleep?" Riku asked, swinging his long legs around in an arc so he was sitting up straight.  He grabbed the blanket she'd loaned to him and rolled it up in a ball to put it away.

            Ava took the spot next to him.

            "Yeah," she said.

            Riku had been able to sleep, but not for lack of things to keep him awake.  There was a lot to think about, but this was the first time in ages he'd had somewhere safe and comfortable to rest so he'd taken advantage.

            "Riku…can you tell me what day is like?"

            "What?"

            "I don't really remember what a sun is like…or warmth…or daylight…"  She paused, thinking carefully.  "This place is always night.  It just alternates between dark and darker." 

            "Daytime is very bright," he began.  "The sun is a huge glowing circle that's yellow or orange or even white, depending where it is in the sky.  Early in the morning it comes up and the sky is first blue and then pink and orange and finally the whole sky is a light blue…"

            "That sounds so pretty!" she interjected.  "What is it?"

            "It's called a sunrise," he said.  "But I always liked sunsets better…"  Riku pulled his hand through messy silver-blue hair.  "Then the sun sinks down into the ocean and while sky goes blue and purple while the sun is bright orange and red."

            "That sounds beautiful, too…"  She looked at him.  "Riku, if we ever get out of this place, will you show me a sunrise and a sunset?"

            "You're planning on escaping?"

            "I want to get out of here with all my heart.  I've tried again and again but the result is always the same…"  Ava shook her head.  "Nevermind.  I guess we'll never leave."

            "Then why did you just sound like we might?"

            "Because…I was hoping somehow, with our combined hearts…we could get out."

            "You were hoping?"

            "I…"

            Riku's face transformed into a big grin.  "Ava, if you can still hope, then it isn't the end."

            She gave him a cautious smile before her mouth curved back into a grimace.  She stood up and walked a little away from him.  "Caelestis is the end of hope, Riku.  Every hope I have had has died so far—will this one I have with you die as well?"

            "But we've found each other.  We both still have hearts—or a little of them, anyway."

            Ava turned around.  "I'm scared to believe we can do something, Riku.  What if we both just fall into darkness anyway?  Here, it happens to the strongest of hearts."

            "No one here has a heart—we're different."

            Her eyes were shining with tears.  "No one here has a heart _anymore_."

            "What do you mean by that?"

            "Riku, do you know where the Heartless here even _come_ from?"

            "Heartless come from the darkness inside people's hearts."

            "And where are we now?"

            "What?"

            "We're in the city of darkness.  The Heart of darkness."

            Riku didn't know what she was getting at, but he wasn't quite sure he wanted to know.

            Ava took a slow breath.  "The Heartless here are very powerful.  Why?  Because they are the darkness formed within the most courageous of people's hearts.  They are the remnants of those who had a will strong enough to come here and fight the darkness."

            "Like Sora?"

            "Sora?"

            "My friend…he held the Keyblade.  He and I closed the Door in Kingdom Hearts."

            "A Keyblade master?"  This seemed to surprise her.  "Still, there is darkness in every heart.  Kingdom Hearts itself is light and darkness."

            "Ansem was sure that Kingdom Hearts was the source of all darkness.  But Sora said Kingdom Hearts was light."

            "They were both right."

            "How can that be?"

            "A coin has two sides, and so does a heart."

            Riku was having trouble handling all she was telling him.  So the Heartless in Caelestis were made from those who had tried to fight the darkness and failed?  So Kingdom Hearts was both light and darkness, and he had just ended up on the wrong side?

            Ava continued to affirm what she had already stated, even as he asked the same questions over and over, disbelieving.  And then he asked her one question that stopped her cold.

            "How do you know all this?"

            Avarielle slowly returned to the couch and sat down heavily.  "Because I've seen it happen," she whispered.

            He knew he'd somehow hit her in her most vulnerable spot.  Still, he wanted to know.  For years Riku had had so many questions, and here were some answers.

            With a sad sigh, she began.

            "When I was very young, there were attacks on my home world.  It wasn't exactly like the attacks have gone on more recently.  There were no shadow creatures with magical powers going after any and all hearts.  They were actual people—possessed, overcome by the evil growing inside.

            "My father didn't understand why his once friends had started killing.  I guess no one could possibly have understood.  My father was a very good man—a warrior priest—and so he used his powers of prayer to unravel the mystery.  He saw that, in our universe, the balance of power was tipping.  The darkness was growing stronger and spreading like a great curtain being pulled over our worlds.

            "My father was the kind of man who could never just sit back and watch injustice.  He trained long and hard and finally found some kind of channel to the source of all darkness and light."

            "Kingdom Hearts?" Riku asked.

            "Yes.  Kingdom Hearts."  Ava gulped.  "My mother was very much in love with my father, and she could not bear to be separated from him.  She took me and left to go after him.  We managed to catch up just as the Door was opening.

            "By that point, it was too late for us to return.  Our world was nearly a wasteland; there was nowhere for us to go.  So my father had us all journey together."

            "How old were you then?"

            "I was about four or five," she replied.  "Most of what I am telling you now I don't really remember; my father told me later."

            "So you went into the Door?"

            "Yes."  Ava wasn't looking at him now, but he saw a tear slide down her right cheek.  "We came to Caelestis some time later.  It wasn't as bad as it is now, but this place is always getting worse.  My…my mother was killed early on in a Heartless attack."

            Riku was ready to give her time to deal with these memories, but now the words were flowing just as her tears did.

            "My father was devastated, of course.  And now there was no one to watch me.  The people in Caelestis were either natives or they were warriors, struggling to find the source of darkness and shut it off, somehow.  My father had to stay with me.  He waited until I was about seven or eight until he would leave for long periods of time to fight the Heartless.  And every day I sensed more resentment from him."

            "Resentment?"

            "My mother couldn't defend herself because she was protecting me.  I think, before I was born, my parents were so very much in love they didn't even want children.  They didn't want me."

            Riku had a hard time believing that her parents were completely good people if they didn't even want their own child.

            "My father grew angrier than I had ever seen him.  When he fought the Heartless, he would take special joy in making them suffer.  I thought it was horrible—especially since the Heartless would let out high-pitched screams.  He would also take out his anger on me.  He would chastise the inhabitants of Caelestis while, at the same time, he was acting more and more like them."

            Avarielle shook her head slowly, her face now buried in small, soft hands.  Riku sensed that, although her tale went unfinished, she was quite done telling it for now.  He placed one hand on her back, and she leaned against his side.

            Riku wrapped his arm about her shoulders and held her warm, trembling body against his.

            "I've been alone for a long time," she whispered.  "It feels good to lean on somebody for a change."

            "No problem," Riku said.  He didn't mind feeling her warmth beside him either.

            Riku began to talk about how he had come to Caelestis.  He explained about being a child on the Destiny Islands, how his parents had been killed in a boating accident when he was nine, how he had grown up playing with his best friend Sora and then, when she appeared out of nowhere, Kairi.

            He got to the part where he was a rebellious fifteen-year-old boy trying to escape his limits, how he had found the darkness and let it in to consume his whole world and ruin the lives of the friends he cared for most.  Here he had to control his deep voice from rumbling even more with anger and self-hatred.

            He explained all about the Keyblade and working under Maleficent to fight Sora.  He talked about how he was originally the chosen Keyblade Master, but for one instant Sora's heart was stronger than his.  Riku talked about all of his mistakes, how he let Ansem come into him just for more power.  He told Ava how helpless it was to have your body be doing horrible things to your friends when you could not do anything.

            Lastly, he talked about being freed when Kingdom Hearts had opened with a burst of light.  Ansem was destroyed, and Riku's spirit was drawn into Kingdom Hearts itself.  The last part of the man's tale chronicled the sealing of the Door and his journey down the road of darkness.

             "All of the worlds of my universe were restored, I think," Riku concluded.  "That's what was supposed to happen when the darkness was sealed.  I hope Sora and Kairi made it back to the Islands all right.  They are probably having a good life right now."  There was no bitterness in his voice, for this was, in reality, his truest wish.

            "Your friends sound like such nice people," Ava said drowsily but sincerely.  She moved upward a little bit so her head was resting on the man's shoulder and not his side.  "I wish I could meet them someday."

            Riku realized that they had now been talking for several hours.  He let himself fall asleep, just as Ava was doing close against him.  His last thoughts were regretful; why hadn't his heart been stronger?

            Riku awoke suddenly, jumping at the loud noises erupting on the street below.  He rushed to the window, Ava alert and at his side.  Between the metal bars that covered the glass panes, he could make out a swarm of Heartless heading for the main street, pushing over crates and trash bins.

            "What are you going to do?" Ava asked, pulling her robe about herself to keep out the cold—and perhaps protect herself from something colder than the night.

            "I…I want to fight them.  That's a bigger group of Heartless than I've seen ever since I came here.  I think they're up to something," he added intuitively.  "Besides, I've sat back and let the Heartless kill too many times before."

            Ava's eyes brimmed with concern.  "_Please_…please don't.  What will you fight with?"

            Riku looked down at her.  It was so strange.  They had met less than a day ago and already they had such a deep bond, like they'd known each other forever.  Was it only because the other's heart was the only one to call out to?

            "I'll fight with my heart," Riku said, smiling.  "When I took the Keyblade from Sora, he told me the same thing."

            "You can't do it alone."

            "I can't."

            Ava's eyes wandered downward.  "No one here has fought the Heartless for years.  Everyone just runs away from them."

            "Then maybe attacking will be enough…maybe fighting will make the difference."

            "Or maybe they've grown stronger with no one to keep them in check—!"  She grabbed at his hand when he started to walk away.  "Riku, I _can't_ lose you to them.  We have to get out of this place—and we need each other to do it!"

            He turned around and looked down at her pleading face.  "Fight with me, Avarielle.  We've both tried to get out of this place by running away.  There's a world beyond Caelestis—there is a Door to the Light.  But we're not going to find it without facing the darkness head on.  And that means fighting."

            Avarielle nodded.  She put her hands over his two clenched fists.  "All right, then, Riku.  We'll go together."

            The woman jumped back as his hands began to glow.  Two black and silver weapons were materializing in his pale fingers, crossing directly over his chest.  They were huge blades brimming with magic power.

            "These are…Dual Keyblades!"


	3. crepusculum

**_crepusculum _**_-i n. [twilight]._

**Act I, Scene Three**: Crepusculum: On the eve of war.

come with me in the twilight of a summer night for a while  
tell me of a story never ever told in the past

            Riku slipped on his tight-fitting gray overcoat.  "Are you ready?"

            Avarielle nodded.  She had just gotten dressed as hurriedly as Riku had, putting on a sleek black pantsuit beneath a long, soft, cream-colored overcoat whose ends flowed after her almost like a wedding veil.  She had also attached her three braids on the back of her head so her raven-colored locks wouldn't be in the way.

            Riku was still gripping the two Keyblades in gloved hands.  They lacked Keychains, which made him think that these blades were in some sort of raw state.  Almost like they adapted to the form most suited to their wielder.

            But he could think on that later.

            Ava went through first and unlocked all the doors, her high-heeled boots clunking on the steps as she raced expertly downward.  She was scared, but she didn't want Riku to know.  She didn't want to know it herself.__

take me back to the land  
where my yearnings were born  
the key to open the door is in your hand  
now fly me there

            They came upon the street suddenly, the cold and dark a contrast to the warmth and light Riku had experienced indoors in Ava's living room.  He tied up his hood to hide his ears from the blast of frigid wind.

            His dark sapphire eyes followed Ava's angel-like silhouette. He didn't think it wise for her to run ahead like that.

            He was right.

            The attack came quickly, a large, man-shaped Heartless swooping down from a large doorway.  The thing flung itself at Avarielle, but she was quick.  Now it was standing between her and Riku.

            Riku let one of his arms swing back out of the way and pointed the other directly at his new enemy.  He charged expertly, almost like he was fencing.  His head was tilted slightly down as his weapon connected with the chest of the Heartless.  It screamed shrilly, hurting the ears of its opponents before hopping up onto an overhang.

            "Take it," Riku said, giving the so far unused Keyblade to Ava.  It was a bit heavy, so he wondered how well she could wield it.  She'd obviously never fought with the unique weapon before.

           Avarielle took the handle cautiously, but before she could even go about getting a good grip on it, the thing glowed an iridescent purple, almost blinding them.  It was now a mass of throbbing violet energy, morphing toward an unknown end.  It grew long and thin, and, quite suddenly in fact, Avarielle was in possession of a seven-foot tall silver staff.

            The weapon was topped with an ornate sphere, in which a shimmering crystal of a violently throbbing purple gleamed, spinning around slowly in its beautiful casing.  Alternatively, on the bottom end of the staff, it was formed into what looked like a giant key.

            This thing, somehow, was a Keyblade.

            Riku and Avarielle had little time to wonder at it, and indeed there was so much that kept going unexplained, but this was because the enemy was ready to try his luck again.

            "Watch out!" cried Ava, stepping backward.  She wielded her new treasure easily, like the huge thing that stretched two feet above her head was somehow light as a feather.  Now she put the Key in front of her, gripping it with two hands.

fanatics find their heaven in never-ending storming wind  
auguries of destruction be a lullaby for rebirth

            The creature plunged down, falling across Avarielle.  Riku gasped deeply, his legs and arms poised to take it down.

            Ava clenched the Keystaff and threw up both arms with all the strength she could muster.  The Heartless, surprised at her new strength, flew up and back into Riku's black and silver blade.

            It melted into gray smoke, leaving behind an awful smell.

            "That's not the end of them.  Let's go," Riku began to say, continuing past his companion for the main road.  But Ava wasn't following.  He spun around to look at her, only to find the woman staring at the clump of heavy air where the Heartless had just been.

            "A Heartless…_dead_…" she murmured.

            "We defeated it," Riku said coolly, swinging the Keyblade around to rest on his shoulder.  "But there's hundreds more."

            Avarielle's head turned in a graceful arc and her deep brown eyes went upward to meet his sapphire gems.  "No one has killed a Heartless in fifteen years, and _we_ were the ones to do it."

            He offered her his free hand.  "Avarielle…"

            She shook herself out a little bit and renewed her handle on the Keystaff.  "All right, Riku!  Let's go get the rest of them!"

consolations, be there  
in my dreamland to come  
the key to open the door is in your hand  
now take me there

            Riku and Avarielle ran together into the night.  They reached the large, open street, neon signs advertising the latest bets or the prettiest singers buzzing above, black concrete hard and cold below.  The sky was open this evening, the blue-white stars shimmering in the midnight black curtain of night.

            Now the wind racing over Riku's smooth, masculine features no longer felt cold; instead, it was a refreshing reminder that he was _alive_.  He wondered how long it had been since he had last remembered that.

            A pool of Shadows was under the street before them, glowing eerily beneath the orange, blue, and red billboard plastered on a nearby building.

            "They're here, just beneath our feet," Riku warned, sliding the Keyblade from his shoulder.  He slumped down into a battle-ready position, Ava close beside him doing the same.  She came up and put her back against his.  They had the feeling they were surrounded, and they weren't that far off.

            The Shadows came up from their concrete lair, shifting form into a batch of two-foot creatures with huge, jagged grins and triangle-shaped heads.  Each monster bore two small daggers.

            "These are going to be difficult…they're so small!" Avarielle whispered to Riku out of the corner of her mouth.

            "Just cut them all down with one blow!"  Riku took his own advice, swooping low and letting his blade form a wide arc.  The seven or so Heartless directly in his path vaporized instantly.  One, who was merely brushed by the attack, climbed up on the actual Keyblade itself.

            Riku's brain caught up with recent events and released to him a rush of adrenaline.  His muscles throbbed with power.  He jerked the Keyblade to the right, leaving his opponent stunned on the ground.  Before the little creature could react, he swung the Keyblade over and down to crush it from above.

            Meanwhile, Ava's staff had started glowing again.  However, this time it did not change in shape.  A wave of energy spread from her in all directions.

            Riku was knocked to the pavement.  He looked up to see the woman turning in a slow circle.  Her eyes were closed, the Keystaff hugged tightly to her chest.  Riku guessed that it was unlocking within her.

            Magic?

            The newly formed mage turned to look at him, a nervous smile gracing her lips.  "Riku, I feel this power within me—it's so strange!"  She put on hand over her heart.  "What _is_ this thing you gave me?"

            Riku climbed back onto his feet.  He looked around to realize that the power Ava had just released had eliminated all remaining Heartless from this place.

            "Let's talk about it later," he said when he saw a small throng of Heartless scampering off in the distance.  He recognized a few of them as recovering from blows he and his partner had just dealt.  His ice blue eyes focused with concentration.

            "Ava, I think those Heartless are heading somewhere."

            "What?"  She came forth to him, her white coat trailing behind in the smoke.

            "Let's follow them.  I get the feeling it's important."  Now he was having strange intuitions about Heartless?  Yet another mystery for him to puzzle out.

            They swept through the night, coats trailing behind the young man and woman.  After this first battle, they had become suddenly aware that they were merely cards in Fate's hand, and just now were being put into play.

i believe in fantasies invisible to me  
in the land of misery i'm searchin' for the sign  
to the door of mystery and dignity  
i'm wandering down the secret sun

            It took them quite a while to find the Heartless again, but there was no doubt they had come across a great discovery when it was made.

            Hundreds of Heartless—at least two or three, but the way they blended together into one swarming mass of evil made it seem like a thousand could be present.  They were all crying out to each other in shrill voices.  Riku had realized long ago that here the Heartless could speak, even in a language that rang cruelly in human ears.

            Avarielle was covering her ears now, cradling the Keystaff between her arm and side as she used both hands to block out the repulsive sound.  Her eyes held something deeper than fear of what she was seeing now—they had the look of someone just awoken from a nightmare of the past.

            They were standing at a crest of a hill on the edge of town—at least it _seemed_ closer to the edge of town than anything Riku had seen so far.  Down below them stretched a valley brimming with the swarming Shadows, all gathered around something the man now squinted to make out.

            The bigger monsters were up against—well, whatever it was—curiously scratching and screeching about it.

            "Is that a door?" Avarielle cried, overcompensating due to her lack of hearing.

            Riku shook, _actually_ shook, when he realized what she meant.

            The Heartless were surrounding a Door.  A huge, single, black hole of a Door, on either side of it the infinity of Caelestis, but very clearly outlined by a pulsating blue line drawn jaggedly in the air.

            They were trying to open it.

            Ava's hands came shakily down.  "Riku, what does this mean?"

            "I might know…but I hope I'm wrong."

            The Heartless were trying to get out.

_come with me in the twilight of a summer night for a while  
tell me for a story never ever told in the past   
take me back to the land  
where my yearnings were born  
the key to open the door is in your hand  
now take me there  
to the land of twilight_

__________________________________________________________________________

the ironically appropriate song, "key of the twilight," is by yuki kajiura, and can be found on the .hack//SIGN anime OST


	4. appetentia

**_appetentia_**_ -ae f. [desire , longing]._

**Act I, Scene Four:  **Appententia: The dangers in doubting.

            Avarielle's slim, dark fingers ran over the shimmering Staff that was now hers.

            "Please tell me what this all means, Riku," she begged, spinning to face him.  They were several stories up, being situated on the roof of her apartment building, overlooking a good portion of the city.

            From his blatant lack of response, Riku might not have even heard her words.  He was leaning over the iron railing, looking down at the people going to and fro between the brightly lit buildings.  The night was as cool and misty as a Caelestis night ever was.  Up here, there were almost scraping the bottoms of blue-gray clouds hanging over the city like a blanket.

            "_Riku_."  She put up the Keystaff so it blocked his view, the glowing violet crystal so near to his eyes he went momentarily blind.

            "Ugh."  He made the surprised sound and stepped back, gloved hand over face.  His fingers came slowly down.  To Ava's surprise, he looked…irritated.

            Ava snatched back her weapon.  "Er, sorry.  Are you feeling all right?"

            It was a silly question to ask.  How could anything be all right in this place?

            "I'm…I'm fine," he said, trying to control his frustrations.  After all, he had nothing to be mad at _Ava_ about, did he?

            Avarielle backed up against the railing, her eyes resting on the dim sky.  "What are we going to do about the Heartless?"

            "We have to do something," was his answer.

            "Do you think they could open that Door we saw?"

            Riku paused.  "The Door looked like it was still forming…still in the process of taking on a solid shape.  But after it does, who knows?"

            "And what about the Keyblades?" she mused, hefting the Keystaff once more.  Then, all in a rush, it began to disappear, leaving in its place a cloud of sparkles, which flowed rather pointedly toward the woman's chest.

            Riku watched these proceedings with narrowed eyes until all the fuss stopped.  He bent down to look at Avarielle's chest, where a violet gem pendant was dangling off of a silver chain.

            Ava picked it up to run her palm across it.  "I think it's that same crystal that was in the Keystaff."  She was right.

            "Maybe…maybe the Key has returned to your heart."

            Avarielle nodded slowly, as though she didn't completely understand…

            Riku took up his Keyblade and swung it around so swiftly it cut the air with a shrill _whoosh_ sound, eventually placing it as though it had a sheath on his back.  It melted out of sight.  Two large chains materialized over his coat, crisscrossing his chest and back.

            The woman peered around his back.  "Oh, you should see this!  There's a big metal lock back here…I don't know quite how to describe it.  It's beautiful, though—somehow."

            _Why is this happening?_ Riku thought, staring down in amazement at the chains.  Whenever Sora had put his Keyblade away, it had just vanished into his heart.  Why these physical manifestations for him and Ava?

            There was yelling down below, but, upon Riku's investigation, he discovered it was only some men and women enjoying themselves too much on the street far below.

            "Do you think it's the Door out of here?"  Ava's voice was light and airy, as though she were partially submerged in a dream.

            "It could also just lead deeper into the Darkness."

            He was squashing her hopes.  "Don't be so negative."

            Avarielle strolled over to the moody man in front of her, letting her slender arms slip underneath his.  "Riku, don't be so cross with me."  She was smiling at him very sweetly as she pulled him for a tighter embrace.

            Riku stood, body stiff and face emotionless.  He felt her warm touch, but…

            "Oh, what's that?"  Something shiny on the ground had caught Ava's eye, and she knelt down to inspect it.  As she did, round munny dropped from her pockets and spilled with various light metal clangs.

            Riku looked down at her crouched form, some unpleasant thoughts surfacing.  "Is that the munny you got last night?"

            "Yes," Ava answered without hesitation or suspicion.  She began to scoop up the coins and put them back into the small pouch on her belt.

            "Your customer…?"

            "_Yes_," Avarielle said, as though she didn't much care about what he was getting at.  She scooted over to gather some more of the coins, which seemed to be very paticular about rolling away.

            Riku looked at her.  She was so beautiful, and she was his friend now.  She looked at him like she wouldn't mind something more.

            "How many customers do you have?"

            A single munny was headed all the way for the edge of the roof.  Avarielle straightened her legs out and ran for it, but the thing slipped through her fingers and felt to crash in a dumpster on the street below.

            It was getting foggier, and she was a little ways away from him.  He couldn't see her so well anymore, so there was no way to read her face.

            "Oh, I don't know."  She was only half in the conversation.

            "How often?"

            He saw Ava's silhouette stand and straighten the small, slim body out, brushing the newly acquired dirt from the long, sweater-like coat.  "How often do I have customers, you ask?  Only when I need to eat or pay the rent."  She was certainly in the conversation now.

            Riku looked to one side, doing his best to seem disinterested.

            "What?  What is it?"  Now her voice was demanding.  "If you have something to say about me, say it to my face."

            This was almost humorous; her face was shrouded in mist.

            "I guess it's how you earn a living—"

            "How else would you have me do it, Riku?  The only ways to get munny in this place is to steal it off dead bodies, or rob people in the streets.  So I sell my body.  At least I'm giving men what they _want_.  I'm not hurting anyone this way."

            "What about you?" Riku had been tripping over his thoughts, but now the words had come out all on their own.

            "Practically every woman in this city is a prostitute, Riku.  You're judging me along with the rest of them.  I'm sure you've had your nights—"

            "I must certainly have not!"

            "All right, sorry," she said, recoiling at his sudden burst of anger.  "You're the only guy from Caelestis who can say that, I guess."

            "I'm _not_ from Caelestis," he said, and his rotten mood was seeping more and more into his words.  He felt like a train gaining so much speed so quickly it might crash…  "I'm not from this place.  I don't belong here!"

            "I'm not from here either, Riku.  But you think you're the only one who doesn't belong?  Do you know how long I've lived here?  How long I've lived on my own?"  She was gripping one hand into a fist so tight her nails punctured the dark skin.  As blood dripped onto the ground, she began to speak again, her usual pleasantly high and light voice now angry and dark.

            "_Fine_.  I sell my body—I give men whatever they want.  How can you judge me, Riku?  It's harder to be a woman than a man in this place.  To be with drunks who own you for the night, who use you for taking out all their frustrations…"  Her voice choked, but she concealed it by coughing as the tears came raining down.

            Riku couldn't see her at all.  The mist was building, and the night grew ever colder.  The wind had picked up and was whipping around his body, whistling as it passed over his ears.  But he couldn't stop thinking…

            "You so easily put your arms around me—how hard is it to be affectionate with me when you do it any night for the highest bidder?"  He had now said it, but he'd only meant to think it.

            But now it was there, drifting around in the open, the sudden quiet the statement itself had created.  It was there, freezing time as easily as any spell.

            The words were there, building themselves into a brick wall between Avarielle and himself.  A wall that would prove hard to tear down.

            "I-I…  I didn't know you felt that way, Riku."  Her voice was pure confusion, a voice wavering between anger and defense, a voice still trying to overcome surprise.  "You, too, will treat me differently because of what I do."

            He groped for a hammer, but none came.  He could no longer see her soft eyes pleading for his comfort.  He saw merely a blank wall of his own creation.  His train had crashed here.

            "It's cold, Riku.  I'm going inside."

            Riku had a hard time getting comfortable.  The couch seemed hard and unfriendly this time.  Even Ava's shuffling around in the kitchen had an edge to it.

            He was physically exhausted; the stress of fighting for the first time in years had taken a greater toll than he would outwardly admit.  His back, neck, arms, and legs were all sore, and he thought many unmentionable thoughts about them.

            The musty smell of the furnace air coming through vents on the ceiling seemed to be his only comfort.  In some strange way, it reminded him of the Secret Place back on Destiny Islands.  For a while, Riku was bathed in pleasant memories of the endless summer days of his childhood.

            But he remembered that those days had all had there sunsets.  He was now trapped in a land where the sun never rose.  And he had perhaps ruined his chance at a real friend, a companion whose soul had so thoroughly understood his.

            Riku wandered why he always had to fantastically destroy everything that could ever be something in his life.

            Avarielle entered the darkened room and crossed quickly to her private chamber.  Riku lay still with his face pointed toward the back of the couch.

            He was a man now, but never before had he felt like such a foolish child.

            _I am in Caelestis because of what I've done.  I let the darkness into my heart.  I let my world—oh, that perfect world I had!  That perfect childhood I shred so quickly in order to be bored and impatient with the greatest pleasures in life.  _I_ let my world be consumed by darkness.  Then, like now, the doubts I had about myself were so overwhelming I blamed those closest to me.  I was undeserving of Avarielle's trust._

            He pulled the single blanket over his shoulders as he turned to be flat on his back.  His muscles complained.

            Riku tensed in physical and emotional pain.

            _I'm not strong enough.  I _never_ was.  I was strong enough to beat Sora with a wooden sword, but _he_ ultimately won the battle of the Keyblades.  Why now does one come to me?  Is it Sora's or the King's?  Is it my own, or maybe the one Ansem used?  The one Sora used to unlock Kairi's heart?  Why now do I have a Key, and why now, when there are more Heartless than I could ever hope to defeat—even with Ava's help?_

            He placed the back of one hand to his forehead.  He was getting a headache on top of everything else.  Maybe it was all the thinking.

            _I thought I was finally getting close.  I thought with the Keyblades, and the Heartless, and the Door that I might be on to something this time.  This was my chance and I blew it.  The combined light I had with Avarielle is quickly turning to nothing but dust…_

            Ava was gone when Riku woke up and there was no indication as to where she was.  Her bed was made and a small breakfast was left on the table in the kitchen.

            Riku wondered how he had finally drifted off after hours of disturbing thoughts.  It was the first time in the three days since their argument that he'd been capable of any rest.  Physically, he felt alert and awake.  Most of his aches had dissipated as well.

            He ate his meal before getting washed in the small bathroom just off of Ava's bedroom.  He didn't know when she would get back, but he guessed the woman would want to stay away for a while.  He wandered around the apartment, loose-fitting blue slacks his only clothing.

            For the first time, he spotted a small bookshelf between the end of the couch and the wall.  It was a short thing about a foot tall, and it was stuffed with maybe a dozen well-read pieces of literature.  Riku knelt down and ran his fingers along the row of worn-out spines.

            It'd be so long since he'd read anything other than a newspaper or flashing neon sign.  His hands eagerly grabbed the first thing off the shelf, which turned out to be a tattered copy of…something.  The cover was missing.

            Riku's fingers slowly but steadily flipped through faded, yellowed pages.  The book seemed half turned to dust.  He respected the thing for surviving so long in a city where he figured books had been forbidden to exist.

            He reached a mostly readable passage.

            "…_before the worlds were separated, there was one world of infinity.  There were no separate universes or planets, but simply one world on which everything living thing originated.  This place of infinity was called Caelestis, the city born of Heaven.  Here, plants, animals, and people were first created.  Into each living thing was breathed equal parts of light and darkness…_"

            Riku squinted blue eyes, re-reading the paragraph a few times.  What was this book talking about?  Caelestis the beginning of it all?  The rest of the page was good for naught; it seemed something had been spilled and it was not until several pages later that the words appeared somewhat clearly on the page.

            "_…fighting ended and only neglected…  In the end, it was the children, now starved of their parents' love, who were left…  Rebuilding of worlds…inexperienced…both failures and triumphs were common…"_

            The book was handwritten and the script itself was ornate and difficult to read.  The curls and decorations had faded with time less than the words, so Riku was left to study an illustration on the facing page.  It featured a small boy with a jagged key facing a large bear of some sort…

            The man's fingers flipped eagerly to the next page, and then the next.  Here, there were the remains of detailed illustrations of various weapons and other items.  There were bows and staffs and swords of all kinds.  All of which held something familiar.  It took him several minutes of pouring over the drawings, but he realized that all of them were Keyblades.

            "_There have been several Keyblade masters, but very few have succeeded in accomplishing their goals, especially in recent times…end.  Darkness…powerful…will…triumph…  Buried within the depths of people's hearts…"_

            "I've already read all those books before," Avarielle announced as she came up behind him.  "I guess I couldn't understand what any of it meant until now."

            Startled, Riku let the book fall from his hands in a cloud of dust.

            Ava coughed.  "I read them all years ago," she was saying, plucking up the book and pushing it back into place.  "What I _could_ read of them, anyway.  They're probably hundreds of years old, and have been through many owners."

            "How did you get them?  Whose were they before?"

            She paused, her eyes on the shelf.  "My father's.  He researched the darkness—I told you, didn't I?"

            She always had a certain look in her eyes when she talked about her father.

            Riku stood.  Doing so, he put himself a foot and a half over her.  They were standing very close together—seemingly only a breath apart but, in reality, at least a mile.

            His eyes focused.  There was a new bruise sprouting on her cheek, right below the left eye.  It was large and purple and rather angry looking.

            Avarielle spun so that her injured cheek was away from him.  "Did you sleep well?  You must have been out for ten hours."

            "Ava…"

            He reached for her hand but she moved away, not even looking at him.

            "Avarielle, tell me who did that to you and I'll go make them regret it."

            The woman spun around, her large, wide skirts _whooshing_ through the air, her raven waves of silk being upset before slowly settling back into their former style.  Her eyelids and lips were of light blue today, as was her long, wide dress.

            "The situation wouldn't interest you," she snapped.  "And this is no time for you to be drawn into vengeance."

            This time, he pursued her and grabbed her wrist.  "Where did you go to have someone hit you?"

            Her chocolate irises wavered for but a moment.  "Where do you think?  I went to buy some more food."

            "You get beat up grocery shopping?"

            She rolled her eyes.  "Of course not.  I just get bled dry with inflated prices.  The person who hit me was an old customer who ran across me on the street."

            "Did he just walk up and hit you?"

            "No.  He asked me to spend some time with him and I refused.  It's common practice to take out your anger physically, isn't it?"  This last bit she added with some hint of accusation, deliberately looking up at him.

            Riku tried to chew his words before they came out, but whatever he did he had to get the rotten taste from his mouth.  "Tell me who this jerk is and I'll get him."

            Now it was Ava that was grabbing his wrist as he jolted towards the door.

            Riku felt his anger strongly, in the form of pulsing hot blood pumping through his veins.  He couldn't hold this in.  "I'm going to take care of any guy who hurts you, Avarielle.  You might have been alone for a long time, but you aren't anymore."

           "Riku…"  She gripped his wrist tightly.  Something washed over her, something like relief but not quite.  The wall was still there.  It had only teetered slightly.

            "Riku, we can't focus on petty things like this.  We have the Keys, and we saw the Heartless and the Door, didn't we?  Don't we have a mission now?"

            She was right, and Riku knew it.

            Her eyes ran over his half-naked body.  "Hey, what happened to your chains?"

            Riku looked down at his bare chest.  He realized then that he didn't remember having the chains since last night.

            "They must of…disappeared?"

            Maybe the Keyblade had gone into his Heart.

            "But…"  She said pointedly as she held up the pendant, which was still sitting safely about her neck.

            "I never took them off," he mumbled, returning to the couch.  He hastily sorted through the tangled blankets and clothes and found nothing that resembled whatsoever heavy silver chains with a giant lock.

            "Then it did disappear.  Is your Key gone, you think?"  Avarielle watched on nervously from the sidelines as he fought the knot of fabric.

            Riku grabbed his coat and slipped it on.  He'd made his decision.

            "What are you doing?"

            "I'm going to find my Key."

            "You think it's out there?"

            "Avarielle, I think it's time for us to return to that Door."


	5. ianua

**_ianua_**_ -ae f. [door; entrance , approach]._

**Act I, Scene Five**:  Ianua:  Approaching the Door

            They had gotten ready For Real this time.

            Riku had gone back to the underground locker where he kept his few belongings and returned to Avarielle's place with them.  He ultimately selected an outfit proper for the duration of any battle.  He first put on a long sleeved, silky black shirt with long sleeves and turtleneck, whose ends fit under his familiar gloves.  On top of that he wore a sleeveless blue-black shirt, and below came a pair of pants of the same color.  These were loose enough to be comfortable and to allow freedom of movement.  On his feet were short boots of light and dark blue edged with black, their tops buried beneath the folds of his pants.

            Avarielle adopted a very different look compared to the one she had taken last time.  She was wearing a long-sleeved v-neck shirt of white.  Her silver-edged purple crystal pendant hung down to rest just where the shirt began.  She was wearing a long, slender white skirt that flared at the ends into a design that could only be described as purple fire.  Her footwear consisted of knee-high black boots with two-inch heels, although the shoes were almost completely obscured by the beautiful skirt.

            Avarielle had most of her hair down, although she had pulled back the top part and wrapped into to a bun, sticking into what looked like two metal chopsticks.  She had painted her lips crimson and her eyelids violet, and the whole affect was quite pleasant for Riku.

            Avarielle was also wearing a slim black belt, to which she attached a pouch filled with her munny and a few other necessities Riku didn't question.  He knew what they needed most was faith.

            The woman put everything in the apartment in good order, locking away anything that could possibly be stolen.  She and Riku ate a hardy meal and drank plenty of water.  They did not know what was coming, but they could do their best to prepare for the worst.

            As they left the building and began heading down toward the Door, Riku tried not to let on that he was, in fact, scared as hell that he had no Keyblade.  He had secretly tried to summon it with his heart, but to no effect.

            Avarielle marched at his side steadily, her pendant bouncing up and down with the vigor of her stride.  Her dark skin was clean and soft, shimmering nicely in the light reflected off the concrete.  Her raven waves served as a cape, coming down to wrap about her shoulders and cover her back.

            Riku knew that she was still hurt by his comments from before, and this was a wedge that might cost them dearly.  But even though things didn't seem to be going smoothly—even though he had no weapon—he felt more driven than ever to pursue the Door and the Heartless around him.

            It was the Night of Fate.

            "We're going to get out of here, Riku," Avarielle said.  "If we fight to get out of here, then we'll do it."

            Riku tried to concentrate on the goal, but he found himself distracted.  He hated himself at that moment, hated the insensitivity that he of all people had shown to Ava, hated the doubts of an overactive mind that had probably driven his Keyblade away from him.

            A shrieking erupted over them.  Riku looked up to see that a cloud of winged Heartless was quickly approaching.

            Avarielle closed her eyes, leaned back slightly, and crossed her hands over her chest.  The crystal pendant shone bright and true its purple light.  From within the woman's body, she was instinctively pulling at the massive, pulsating energy.  The top of the Keystaff materialized right outside of her, the gem inside spinning at an accelerated pace.  She grabbed what was there of the handle and began to pull the staff outward, hand under hand to drag the seven feet of it out.

            Riku's eyes were wide and his heart was racing as he watched the spectacle.

            Her weapon present, Ava adopted a battle stance.  Constantly shifting her weight from one foot to another, the crouched woman watched the approaching enemies and gulped.

            The man saw that the enemies were about three feet tall and possessed the merest yellow slits for eyes.  They had long, bat-like wings stretching upward from their backs.  Legs were nonexistent and chubby little hands stuck out from their fronts.

            Riku suddenly felt wind whipping around him.  It was a spell!  It was like Vortex, the wind spell Sora had constantly used to reduce damage…

            "Shield yourself!" ordered Riku.

            "I'll do what I want," responded the woman, throwing up the same barrier over her body.  Riku wondered if she had been experimenting with her magic when he wasn't around…

            Riku dove out of the way when the first monster struck.  _Damn_, was all he could mutter, even inside his mind.

            "I don't think we can bother fighting these!" he told Avarielle.  "There's plenty more by the Door!"

            Avarielle nodded.  She raised her staff and down came a blast of wind, which momentarily stunned the enemy.  Her eyes met Riku's, and the message was clear:  _Run_.

            They did, and it was not easy to escape the Heartless by taking a small tunnel the two had discovered the other day.  It was murky and smelled strongly of sewer, but it was relatively safe and swift.

            They burst out on the other side into a crowd of Heartless.

            "We're surrounded," mumbled Avarielle, stumbling around in circles as her eyes passed over the dozens of monsters poising to strike.

            Riku went to her, standing in front.  He could sense her fear almost as vividly as he felt his own.  Their heartbeats were probably loud enough to shake all of Caelestis.  Riku knew that their hearts and Avarielle's Key was more than enough to draw the Heartless after them.  "We'll do this together," he said.

            Ava gulped loudly for about the tenth time that night.  "Riku, I'm sorry for being mad—"

            "This isn't the end!" he cried, hearing the remorse in her voice.

            And then he fell, doubled over, as a birdlike Heartless rammed him straight in the chest.  The wind knocked clear out of him, he could barely speak.  "Have to…hang on…or we'll never…"  He coughed, sputtering up blood in the process.

            But as he did, he also felt something warm around his torso.  The chains were back.

            "Riku!" screamed Ava.  He wondered if she was getting attacked too.  No; she was doing something different.  She was holding up the great Keystaff, it's bottom end linking up the giant padlock on Riku's back.

            There was a sensation inside Riku's chest—his heart—that he'd never felt before.  It wasn't that painful, but it was strange.  He felt like something was physically turning, unlocking.  As it happened, this lurching feeling, there was a _click_ sound resounding in his ears.

            It was overwhelming.  His vision went blurry, he began to stumble, and there was something heavy on his back.  Not another Heartless…

            "Riku!  The Keyblade—it's back!"

            The Heartless were closing in now, bird ones swarming above and some others sporting armor and as big as bears charging on the ground…  Riku saw their shapes vaguely… 

            His eyes were drawn to a shimmering light.  He could make out the Door, and he could make out that it was opening, some sort of rainbow-colored light emanating from the widening crack.

            "Dear God, Riku!  The Door is _opening_!  Help me, Riku!"  The sound of her voice came in soft and loud chunks as she was drawn this way and that by monsters eager to taste blood.

            "We'll do it together," breathed Riku slowly, coming to a near-standing position.  He reached back and took out the Keyblade, its weight still a welcome burden to weary arms.  His face was being swatted for all directions, but something had happened…

            He turned, and there was Avarielle, her Keystaff raised to defend herself.  She was coming for him through the throngs of enemies, her eyes filled with distress.

            They touched.

            The Keyblade and the Keystaff touched, each person holding out his weapon.  The Door began to swing steadily open, and the Heartless ran for it.  Riku felt a great force on his body.

            He was being sucked in.

            "Ava, _don't let go of the Key_," he ordered.  Somehow, he knew it was important that they kept this link through their Keys.

            The Door was now wide open.  The Heartless had almost all passed into its prism-like interior.

            Both Riku and Ava held tight their two great Keys, holding them up to press against one another.  They used their free hands to grasp for each other's fingers.

            "Avarielle…I think we're getting our wish," were Riku's last words before they, too, were drawn into the Door.

**[End Act I]**

**_______________________________________________________**

wau.  _that_ was a lot of writing.  this chapter and the last (which i chose to separate since they were about five thousand words together) have been the product of about five straight hours of creativity.  if there's any mistakes, keep in mind that the editing was done at—let's see—one-thirty in the morning.  X_x  *dies*

well, i have so far resisted the urge to put up any author's notes with this story.  why?  this is a very serious tale and i am working _hard_ on it.  so hard, i hope it can stand on it's own without my babbling excuses.  it honestly doesn't seem that many people are reading, though.  i guess i can't compete with the massive amounts of soraXriku fics that seem to fill the screen every time i check for updates.  maybe my writing is an acquired taste (yes, yes, beth; that sounds much better than _boring_).

look forward to act ii, if you will.  i am all of 15% sure what will happen next.  but that could just be lack of sleep…*snores*


	6. inlucescit

**_inlucescit_**_  [it grows light, is daylight]._

**Act II, Scene One:**  Inlucescit

            Thump…thump…

_            Is that my heart?_

_            It's beating so slowly…_

_            Who's there?  Who said that?_

_            Said?  I didn't say anything…  I'm only thinking…_

_            Are you me?_

_            No, I'm me…_

_            Where are you?_

_            Don't you mean 'where are we?'_

_            I don't know…  Are we lost?_

_            It's so bright…  I can't see anything, but I can feel how bright and warm it is._

_            Are your eyes closed?_

_            My…eyes?  I don't know…_

_            Are you really there, or am I alone?_

_            I was always alone…_

Whirr…  The wheels begin to turn.

            _'Daddy!'_

_            The man turns toward me, his coarse black hair shading a good part of his face.  His eyes are hardly visible.  He's so tall, so high above me…_

_            'What is it?'_

_           I recoil.  He's so nasty to me now.  I can't see his eyes but I know he's glaring at me.  I'm scared…_

_            'What is it?'  Now he's mad.  He's frowning and coming at me.  'What is it?'  This time he is yelling._

_            I start to cry.  'Daddy, don't get mad at me.'_

_            He mutters something and walks away.  I don't want him to leave me all alone, but I don't want him to get madder.  He walks to the door and stops.  I know he wants to go fight the Heartless that killed Mommy.  I want to tell him to go so he'll be happy, but I'm too scared to talk now._

_            My heart hurts so much.  I wonder if I'm dying.  I want to stop crying but the tears come so fast and never stop.  Without Daddy, I won't have anyone to keep me safe.  But Daddy hates me._

_            Daddy goes to the kitchen and starts to drink out of the nasty-smelling bottle.  I go to my room and close the door.  I sit on the bed and hope Daddy will forget I exist.  I pick up my picture of Mommy.  It's old and its edges are torn and the colors are faded._

_            The door opens and Daddy comes in and sees me looking at the picture._

_            Daddy grabs the picture from me and it rips straight in half._

_            'No!'_

_            'Your mother is gone,' he says.  He tears his piece of the picture into dozens of pieces.  I fight him, but he takes my half and rips it all up too.  I see the pieces of Mommy's smiling face falling on the dirty ground and I scream even louder._

_            I know now that I'll forget what Mommy looked like.  I know now I'll forget what a real smile looks like…_

            Through my tears, the colors of the world blur into one and I feel dizzy… 

            The wheels shifted direction and turned again.

            _I'm racing, running as fast as I can along the bridge to the island where the paopu fruit grow.  There's lightning over the sea.  I hear the thunder and I think back to the storm that took away my Mom and Dad.  I try not to remember…_

_            I know that it's coming.  I could sense the energy from the Secret Place.  The storm is drawing nearer and nearer.  I know it won't be long until everyone wakes up on the other side of the island._

_            It's finally happening; I'm going to the other worlds.  I'm going to get off this stupid island.  There'll be much more to do than run races and play fight and dream of imaginary adventures.  It's my time to see what no one else has seen and do what no one else has done._

_            Fate is on my side._

_            I hear someone.  It's Sora.  I'm ecstatic— but he's upset.  He doesn't understand at all what is about to happen.  He doesn't realize how great it is._

_            'I'm not afraid of the darkness,' I tell him.  The only way to get to the other worlds is to harness the dark powers.  The man had told me so…_

_            He wants to know what's going on.  He wants to know where Kairi is.  I always knew he cared about her more than me.  So much for a best friend._

_            Suddenly I worry if he'll be all right, but I don't show it.  I can't let him or anyone else stop me from realizing my dreams…  He's angry now.  His image blurs before my eyes and the world starts to spin around me._

            Sora… 

_            I reach out for his hand._

_            He doesn't take it._

            _Riku?_

_            Ava?  Avarielle—is that you?_

_            What is this?  I'm remembering things that never happened to me.  Wasn't that Sora guy your friend?_

_            Was that your father I saw?_

_            So it's you…we're together._

_            Where are we?_

_            I don't know._

_            We went through the Door._

_            It's light, Riku.  It's so light here._

_            But that didn't look at all like the Door at Kingdom Hearts._

_            We're not in Caelestis anymore!  That's all I care about!_

_            Maybe it's a dream…_

_            I can't feel anything.  It doesn't feel like I have legs or arms or anything._

_            But I hear it…_

_            What?_

_            The thumping…the gentle thumping…_

_            Our hearts?_

_            I only hear one…_

_            We're connected?_

_            Maybe, between us, we only have one heart.  I'd lost most of mine…  I let in the darkness.  I felt myself growing darker every day.  Maybe we joined through the Keys and—together—we had enough for one heart.  Enough to go through the Door._

            Then where are we going? 

            Avarielle's eyes finally opened up.  Her body was again taking on solid form.  The Keystaff was cold and stiff in her hand.  And…

            She was falling.

            She wanted to scream, and tried, but sound didn't seem to carry in this place.  Her hair and skirt were flying upward as her body sped faster and faster downward.  The wind created between her body and the air was cool, not cold, and yet incredibly strong.  Around her was featureless space, colored green and blue.

            Her Keystaff threatened to go off by itself as her newly recreated palm grew sweaty.  She grabbed it was the other hand so she was holding it in front of (above?) her.

            And then she was slowing down.

            Avarielle seemed to be traveling in slow motion.  She righted herself and her booted feet came to rest on firm ground.

            The woman set the bottom of the Keystaff down with one hand and used the other to wipe hair from her eyes and then clench her chest, breathing heavily.  She had only a faint notion that her physical form had not existed for some period, and just reformed in the sky only a moment earlier.

            But she did remember seeing Riku's memories, and hearing his thoughts are clearly as though they were her own.

            "Riku!"

            Her ears perked up at the sound of heavy groaning in the vicinity.  There.  On the ground a few steps away was his collapsed form, twisted over itself.

            Apparently, he had not had such a graceful landing as she had.

            Ava rushed to his side.  The Keyblade glimmered nearby, but she ignored it.

            Riku turned over on his own power, but he seemed in awful shape.  Dirt and bruises littered what skin was visible, while one of his arms seemed to be twisting in the wrong direction.

            Avarielle's brown eyes were wide.  "Is your arm broken?"

            Riku's affirmation was a loud cry as he tried to move the aforementioned appendage.  "_Damn_," the man muttered through clenched teeth.

            "I'll take care of it," she said, placing three fingers lightly on his elbow.  She closed her eyes.  Green-white energy flowed from the tip of the Keystaff to Riku, surrounding him in a swirl of warm light.

            He blinked, and moved his arm without difficulty.

            "You healed it."

            Avarielle nodded.  "Somehow I knew," she said, rubbing the arm with a mother's affection.  "I knew how to cure it."

            Riku sat up and smiled at her.  His head felt a little funny, but he attributed it to falling a few miles through space.  "It's amazing that you could learn magic without a teacher."

            "I've only figured out how to do two or three spells.  I think I would need someone to teach me for anything more complicated."  She readjusted her hold on the rod.  "This thing has sure done a lot to me."

            Riku stretched out his upper body, raising each shoulder and then flexing his arms and fingers.  He let his head fall back until his neck gave a satisfying 'click'.  "What a wild ride that was."

            It was only then, then when she knew Riku was safe and sound and close by, that Avarielle cared to notice where they were.

            They were situated at the edge some sort of forest, beneath a dense canopy of green trees.  Fallen leaves and twigs as well as small bushes and grass littered the ground.  A meadow stretched beyond to their right while the forest continued in all other directions.

            The time of day was before dawn.  The sky was only now changing over from blue to a light purple.  The air was soft and smelled of dew-covered grass.

            Ava stood, shook out her skirt, and paused for a deep breath.  The air did not smell of garbage, blood, alcohol, or the soaked homeless:  this was different.  This was the first fresh air that she could remember breathing, and it felt clean and good.

            Riku soon came to his feet as well.  He ignored the sudden wave of dizziness and took Ava's hand and led her from under the trees.  "I think the sun's about to come up."

            This excited Avarielle beyond belief and she ran ahead of him to the middle of the small clearing, heart racing and eyes wide with expectation.  She acted much more like a little girl than anything else, and Riku was happy just watching her.

            It was several minutes before the sun finally got itself up above the treetops, but it was well worth the wait.  The sky turned a misty light blue and the sun itself a penetrating white-yellow.  A few clouds drifted here and there, white, fluffy, and inviting.

            Ava whipped her head downward and shielded her eyes.

            "What?  Are you okay?"

            "Oh, no," she chuckled nervously.  "I just was staring right at the sun.  I had forgotten how bright it was."

            When she took her hand down, Riku saw that she was no longer laughing but crying.

            "I'm not sad," she assured his worried face.  "It's just that…  It must have been fifteen or sixteen years since I last saw a bright day.  I…I don't even remember…"  Her words blurred together, coherent speech replaced by a mixture of choked sobs and light, relieved laughter.

            "I understand how you feel," he said.  He looked upward and glimpsed a white bird flying overhead.  "It's going to be okay now."

            "I would die happy at this moment," Avarielle said, but then her glance fell on the Keystaff.  Her chocolate eyes narrowed.  "But I'm still worried about the Heartless."

            Riku's eyes darted about him.

            "Don't worry; your Keyblade is back where we landed."

            The man ran for it and returned, holding the weapon tightly.

            Ava touched her Key to his.  "These are what connected us when we went through the Door."

            Riku nodded.  "I heard your thoughts."

            "I saw your memories."

            A silence fell over them.  It was an almost _violating_ thing to know that someone else was in your heart and looked back on all of your must vivid memories—the bulk of them painful.  To think a word and have it heard by another…

            "I'm sorry," Avarielle told Riku.  "I didn't mean to look back on your past."

            "Same here," he said stiffly.  He had no idea what she had seen, but what he had…

            "I'll try not to think about what I saw.  Your memories and your thoughts are your own business.  I only want to know what you want to tell me."

            Riku knew she was being sincere.  He promised her the same, even though he was conscious of how difficult it would be for the both of them.  He…

            "Are you all right?"

            He could vaguely make out Ava's silhouette above him. 

            With a groan, he got out, "What happened?"

            "You said you felt dizzy and rather promptly fell over," she said.

            Riku realized that they were sitting in the meadow, cool grass beneath them and blue sky and bright sun above.  His head was resting gently in Ava's lap.

            Avarielle touched his forehead before running her fingers back through his slick silver hair.  "Riku…"

            She gasped.

            "What?  What is it?"

            "Riku…"  She leaned back so light fell on his face.  "Your eyes are getting all clouded up!"

            "What?  _What is this?_"

            He could hardly see a thing.


	7. caecitas

**_caecitas_**_ -atis f. [blindness]._

**Act II, Scene Two:**  Caecitas:  The cost of the Keybearer.

            Blind.

            Riku was going blind.

            He waved his fingers back and forth at different distances from his face.  Back…and forth…

            He saw a faint irregularity in the cloudy haze.  "Damn," he repeated over and over, along with a few unmentionable curses.  The man fell back from his seated position, hard-flung torso cushioned in the blanket of sweet-smelling grass.

            Suddenly, the once refreshing spring-like breeze felt cold and mocking.

            Avarielle was at his side, legs folded and tucked under her body neatly.  Her weight was resting onto one palm.  "Oh, Riku…"

            Riku clenched his eyelids shut and said nothing.  His expression was unreadable, his mouth a straight, fine line.

            "Maybe it'll pass?"

            He didn't flinch.

            "Did you pass out again?"

            He shook his head.

            Ava stood and said with determination, "Oh, I hate this stupid place!  It's probably just a trap!  We were so happy and now…now we're going to pay for it."

            "No," he said, and Avarielle could at least be a little relieved that he had not gone mute as well.  "This started before we came here.  I started feeling strange when you…brought back my Keyblade."  He didn't know how else to phrase it.  He wasn't even sure what had transpired.

            "That?"  She stopped and thought.  "It sure was weird."  She began to pace around, her footsteps light.  "I just _knew_ that I had to unlock your Keyblade…"

            "And then I felt strange.  Weak and dizzy."

            "And you couldn't see so well?"

            "And I couldn't see so well."

            "Then it was me!" she wailed in despair.  "I caused this!  I should be the one going blind—"

            "_No_," he said with finality.  He knew that Avarielle was a down to earth, levelheaded woman and he didn't want to be the cause of her panic.  Besides, he did not wish the torment he was feeling at that moment on anyone—especially his only friend.

            Ava fell back to her knees.  She was trembling.  She was angry and scared.  "Who's playing games with us?  What force guided me to unlock your heart—what gave us the Keyblades and then took yours away?  Riku, I can't stand stumbling around in the dark like this…"

            She gulped.

            He ignored her slip of the tongue.  "We're ignorant.  And ignorance _can_ be bliss."

            "But it isn't safety!"

            "No, no it isn't."

            The breeze came up again.

            There was a faint tinkling, like some sort of charms or jewelry.  Riku might have been blind, but he still had a youth's adept hearing.  He sat up promptly.

            "What?  Oh—Oh!  Hello?" Ava called to someone.

            The tinkling grew louder and was joined by gentle footsteps upon the earth.  There was also swishing that sounded like skirts…

            "Hello," said a sweet, serene voice.  "Good morning to you both."

            "Good morning," Avarielle replied.  "Is that basket for picking flowers?"

            "Yes, as well as herbs.  I'm the village healer."  Her smile was almost audible, and Riku accurately predicted a friendly, pretty young face to go along with it.

            "You are?"  Riku instantly knew what the eagerness in Ava's voice meant.

            "Yes, I am.  My name is Yuna.  Let me know if there's anything at all I can help you with."

            "All of a sudden, you say?" the healer was saying.

            Riku's booted feet stumbled on the path.  Ava's thin arms were there to catch him in an instant.

            "I'm okay," he mumbled, regaining his balance as soon as possible.  Another thorn stabbed into his quickly deflating balloon of pride.

            Yuna's words swelled with sympathy.  "I will do my best to treat you, but if it's connected to the Keyblade…  I can't promise any results."

            "You mean you can't help him?"

            Riku had his Keyblade out in his left hand as he walked a little away from the two women.  He gently swung the weapon back and forth in front of him in case there were any large obstacles in the way.  Roots, however…

            This time, the man was sprawled on his feet.  His legs and arms were spread out wildly.  His fingers barely scarped the handle of his weapon…

            "Honestly, Riku.  Can't you let me guide you?"

            Riku stumbled to his feet, utterly humiliated.  "Fine," he groaned.  "Fine, fine."

            He took up the Keyblade in one hand and let Ava curl her fingers around the other.  Her grip was firm yet gentle, and she carefully directed him around any roots, logs, or even whole trees that popped up along the way.

            "We're here," Yuna announced after what seemed like forever.

            If Riku had not been disabled, he would have seen before him a small village with about two dozen wooden huts stretching around him.  He would have seen the giant, sapphire lake glistening on the other side of the slope.  He would have seen many colorful characters making there way to and fro on the dirt and rock streets of the village.

            He might have even happened open a giant yellow bird or two…

            Riku could hear many voices and the sounds of activity.  It didn't sound like a big place, and it certainly lacked the gloom of Caelestis.

            "This is my home," Yuna began, "but it nothing more than a crossroads for many who come here."

            "Crossroads?"

            "We call it Compitum—but that means 'crossroads.'  It's an appropriate title."

            Riku thought back to the time when he was first introduced to Caelestis.

            "Crossroads of what, may I ask?" Ava wondered, taking up Riku's arm again as they made the shallow descent toward the village.

            "Of the worlds," Yuna replied simply.  "I will take you to see him; he'll know better how to explain this all to you.  He might know what to say about the Keyblades, too."

            They entered the village and began to walk along streets of pounded dirt.  Riku heard all sorts of people buzzing about.  They seemed to be a very animated people.

            "_Irvine, once I get my hands on you—!_" screamed an intensely irritated female voice as a few invisible bodies rushed past.

            "It was only a joke!"

            "Hey, Marlene, come back here!"

            "Relm, you'd best go find your grandpa…"

            There were children laughing and grownups chasing, Riku could tell, and even an older boy making mischief.  He wondered what their smiling faces looked like.

            Avarielle jerked him away from the happy scene and down toward a quieter area.  Riku knew they were following Yuna, and pondered upon their ultimate destination.

            They left the main part of the village and came out on the other side before stopping.  Yuna knocked on a door and they were greeted by another woman.  A few hushed whisperings were conducted to explain the situation to this newcomer before Yuna announced she would be back later.

            "Hello," said the woman.  Her voice was a lot firmer than Yuna's and it really sounded like this lady refused to put up with any nonsense.  "I'm Quistis.  Come in and sit down while I fetch Vincent."

            Avarielle guided Riku to a soft armchair and then took a seat close by.  The room they occupied had a scent similar to cedar, but the ambiance was a mystery beyond that. He toyed with the idea of a dim room full of old tomes and worn furniture.  He wondered what kind of old sage this 'Vincent' guy was.

            "Hello, Keyblade masters," said a deep, slightly rasping male voice.

            Riku could feel Ava tense in surprise at his side.  "Oh—so _you're_ Vincent?  Good morning to you."

            Riku nodded in the general direction of the man's voice.

            "Welcome to Compitum."  This time it was Quistis.  She had moved away from the door to the opposite side of the room, giving herself away with a rhythmic click of professional heels.

            Vincent didn't seem to move from the door—at least he made no sound, anyway.  But somehow his voice had moved in a circle to stand over the two visitors.

            "I might be able to help you," he told them.  "But you'll need to explain everything that has happened."

            Riku and Ava both contributed to an explanation of Caelestis and how they had met and how the Keyblades had come and what had gone on with the new Door and the Heartless.

            "Caelestis?  You really survived there for years?"  Quistis was impressed.

            "It wasn't easy," Avarielle responded quickly.

            "I'm sure it wasn't," Vincent said, and Riku could feel powerful eyes upon him.  "And some darkness was bound to sneak into your hearts."

            "If you were brought here, you still have hearts."  Quistis paused to collect her thoughts.  "No evil thing dares come here.  We have too many willing to fight."

            "It might be different now," Riku said.  "We came after the Heartless.  They went through that Door before we did."

            "They're probably still struggling in the Portal of Thought," Vincent said.

            His companion was alarmed.  "You don't mean that they _could_ come here?  Vincent, you don't mean that!  What about the children?"

            "The Portal of Thought?" Riku asked.

            Vincent explained, "It's a road between the Doors of Darkness and Light.  Only thoughts can exist there, and they often become intertwined.  It's not part of the physical world."

            "Yes, Riku and I did experience something like that.  It was different than anything I had ever felt before."

            Quistis, preoccupied, put in, "The Heartless have no hearts.  How can they go into the Portal?  Do they even _think_?"

            "They must have some minor reasoning skills if they're able to fight and track targets."  Vincent's voice held cold logic without emotion.

            "But they're just mindless slaves of evil!"

           "Quistis, they _did_ go through the Door from the Darkness."

            "Then some evil force is guiding them!  I refuse to accept that the Heartless can do it on their own."

            Riku doubted Quistis and Vincent's argument ending anytime soon.  He rose from his seat slowly and deliberately.  "The Heartless are nothing but creatures made by the fear and the doubt that exists in our own hearts.  If we fear them, they only grow stronger."

            "He's right," Vincent told the two women.  "We have to sit down and reason this out."

            Riku was beginning to get the idea that Vincent usually didn't talk so much, and he wasn't used to handling authoritative roles.  He wished he could see the man, who he envisioned to be middle-aged and formidable.

            Avarielle slipped her fingers between Riku's and tugged him back to sit in the chair.  Riku obliged, but only because he did not want to make a fool of himself trying to walk around.  He felt for his Keyblade and relaxed once it was lying safely across the armrests, right next to him.

            "The Keyblades," said Vincent, "are not as rare as once believed.  Even in ancient times, there were Key masters."

            "Darkness has existed since the creation of life, and people have been battling it almost as long," Quistis added next.  "Both darkness and light exist in every living thing."

            The woman continued.  "The requirement to wield a Keyblade is simple—possess the strongest will, the most powerful heart of all those around you.  The Keyblade will arise when hope is failing, and will only bestow itself upon the hopeful.

            "A master must keep the light inside him burning strong.  He can't give up or his weapon will fail to appear when he needs it most."

            The cogs in Riku's minds began to turn, and he felt ashamed.  Never would he be as pure and strong of heart as Sora.  Never.

            "The Keyblade will appear in the form most suited to its wielder.  If the master is young and uneducated in the ways of the world—if he is ignorant of the life of an adult—he usually receives the Key in the most basic form:  a simple, golden-handled Key, awkward and bulky but ready for him to shape as he grows."

            Vincent cut in, rasping quietly, "But an adult who knows what it is like to be submerged in darkness may receive a weapon that looks like it belongs to the dark powers itself."  Riku knew what he must have been gesturing to at that moment, and a wave of shame washed over the silver-haired man's face.

            "Sometimes the Key is not a blade at all, but something that is more for unlocking hidden powers."

            "Like my Keystaff?" Avarielle wanted to know.

            "Exactly," Quistis replied, but then the confidence left her voice.  "But I'm not clear beyond that.  A lot of the old texts have been lost over time…  And I know so little of the recent events."

            "Myself as well," Vincent admitted.  "We have researched what knowledge was left here."

            "Then you're not from here?"

            "No, we aren't.  Everyone in this village came from very different worlds…well, a long, long time ago.  Many of our friends never even made it here.  I…"  She paused.  "I hope they're safe, in…in whatever realm has claimed them."

            "I'm sure they are," Avarielle said.

            "Enough of that," Quistis announced after a heavy sigh.  She sounded determined to keep her mood up.  "We live a happy and peaceful life here.  And we are fortune to assist travelers like yourself who journey between the worlds of this universe."

            "That sounds nice," the dark-skinned woman replied earnestly, and there was longing woven throughout each drawn-out syllable.  "Do either of you know why Riku would…why he would go blind?"

            Riku felt that some communication was being exchanged nonverbally.  He felt frustrated.

            "I'm not quite sure," Quistis said.  "But, then again, I've never met a Keybearer before."

            "I have," Vincent said.  "But nothing like this ever happened to him.  However…_you_ attained the Key in the Dark Realm—in Caelestis.  I'm sure the rules of our worlds don't apply there.  I can only speculate that your doubts caused the Key to disappear in the first place, and you heart had to be unlocked in order for the blade to appear."

            "You mean—?"  The two women said at the same time.

            "The Keyblade you hold is not merely a weapon of your heart:  it _is_ your heart.  And taking part of yourself out…"

            "The price was my eyes," Riku concluded without hearing any more.  "In order to wield it, I had to make a sacrifice.  Because I have lost part of my heart to the shadows, I needed to use everything light inside of me to create this weapon."

            He could almost sense Vincent's subtle nod.

            To everyone's great surprise, Riku began to laugh.  It was a cold, bitter chuckle filled with amusement.  "How ironic.  I can't fight without my sight, but I can't have the Keyblade with them."

            "I would not be so sure about that," Vincent said.  "The mysteries of the Keyblades are infinite.  You may even find—"

            "Sir Vincent!" called Yuna's voice from outside.   She came closer, her breathing labored from intense exercise.  "There are _creatures_ in the meadow!"

            The squeak that arose was, theoretically, Quistis rising hastily from her seat.  "Vincent!"

            Vincent paced heavily across the floor.

            "Maybe you were wrong, Quistis," Riku heard him muttering as a large _swoosh_ of a cape cut through the stilled air.  "But I wish you had been right."


	8. tenebrae

**_tenebrae_**_ -arum f. pl. [darkness; night; blindness; obscurity]._

**Act II, Scene Three:**  Tenebrae: The pursuit

            "Let go of me, Avarielle.  I have to fight."

            She was gripping both his arms, struggling to stay in front of him as she used her body as a blockade.  "Like it or not, Riku, you are _blind_.  This isn't the time to test your limits—the Heartless are attacking _right now_!"

            "You're saying I'd only get in the way, right?"  He could hear the sounds of battle roar into existence not too far away.

            Avarielle sighed, searching his clouded white eyes for some beacon of hope, some sign of the sapphire jewels that had once given her such confidence…

            "I'm going.  I have the Keyblade.  We'll go and fight alongside the others."  He picked up his weapon.

            He started and Ava gulped.  "What?  What's going on?"

            "I…I see a shape in front of me…"  His hand reached out and grabbed her shoulder firmly.  "Like a stream of purple light."

            "You see me?"  Hope began to pour into her heart.

            "Not exactly…"

            "Oh."  It started to trickle back out.

            "But I can tell where you are," he said, proving this by tracing a rough outline of her head and shoulders in the air.  "Maybe I can do this.  Let's go!"

            He was already pushing past her for the door.  _He sees the door, too?_

            Riku reached forward and touched the wall, then felt along it until his hand lurched forth in the space of the doorway.  "Come on, Ava," he said.  "You…you have to help me get back to the meadow."  He felt like these pleading words might choke him.

            Ava picked up her Keystaff.  "Stay close to me, Riku.  We can do this if we stick together."

            Riku felt like he was flying as he raced along the path.  The idea of battle had infused his pulse with new energy and branded into him a new form of confidence.  The Keyblade was his.  He was chosen to carry it.  He wasn't going to let Fate or Avarielle or anyone else down.  Not this time.

            He tripped several times, but Ava always stopped and helped him and resumed their race without saying a word.  It was humiliating for his ego, but he let his mind focus on the emergency at hand.

            He knew they were at the meadow even before Ava spoke.  He heard some sort of growling, and nearby he saw a shimmering crimson light close by to a black-gray one.  What sort of Heartless sounded like such a beast?

            To his right side, there was a pink light accompanied by a gigantic blue one.

            "Shiva!  It's time for your overdrive!" screamed Yuna's voice.

            The entire field began to pulse with magic energy, and all those sensitive to it froze momentarily.  An artic wind swept through.  With a snap of someone's great fingers, the silence exploded into a roar of thousands of icicles shattering at once.

            "Amazing!" uttered Avarielle, still immediately behind him.

            There was little time to be impressed.  Riku swung himself around to glimpse a small black hole far in front of him.  From it seeped black globs of various sizes.

            He knew exactly what they were.

            "Heartless," Riku growled under his breath, marching across the field with carefully placed steps on the broken stems of grass.  He took up the Keyblade and had a few test swings before crouching down into a battle ready position.

            "Riku!"

            He ignored the sound of his name emerging from Yuna's, Ava's, and Quistis's surprised mouths.

            He had a score to settle.

            Riku's fine mouth curved into a cocky grin.  Battle.  He could do this.  It was in him.  Fighting was a part of him.

            And now he was finally on the right side.

            He began to swing in broad arcs, trying to pinpoint his first opponent.  The edge of the Keyblade connected with something (something that also gave a dissatisfied snort), and the man bolted forward to bring his weapon through its middle before the thing had a chance of going away.

            He smelled the smoke that meant victory.

            Encouraged by his first triumph, Riku began to jog for the next target.  He was able to take down half a dozen surprised Heartless in the same manner as the first.  The others were fighting their own fights around him.

            But then something many times bigger came out of the hole, and soon the creature was flying over him.

            It was headed for the purple stream of light.

            "Ava—!" screamed Riku, spinning on a dime and running forth.  His foot immediately chose to snag on something and he crashed down to inhale bitter-tasting dirt.

            Avarielle cried out in surprise.  Apparently she was currently engaged with one of the smaller shadows, and only now had turned to see the massive entity hovering above her.

            _Damn it!_ echoed inside Riku's brain.  The Keyblade had fallen for parts unknown, and he had nothing to pull himself up with.

            He heard the sounds of a beast—it was that bright red light again, a growl and animal smell to go along with it.  The thing sprinted in front of Riku on its presumed claws.

            The gray light soon fizzled and went out.

           "Oh, oh, thank you," Ava was saying somewhere near the red light.  Riku saw that her previously dimmed purple light was returning to normal.  He scrambled to his feet.

            "Are they gone?" Quistis's voice wanted to know.

            "For now," Vincent said gruffly.

            Riku couldn't smell that animal scent anymore…

            "Are you all right?" Yuna asked Avarielle.  "Good.  _Heal_," she said more quietly.

            "Thanks," Ava breathed.

            "Yuna, are you okay with guarding this area?"  Vincent's voice was growing farther away as the red light drifted back towards the village.

            "Of course!" the young lady called after him.  "My summons will protect us!"

            Quistis set her attention on Riku and Ava.  "You two come back to the village with me.  Vincent and I will establish some patrols.  I…"  She sounded uncertain.  "I guess things really changed for now."

            "It's peaceful again," Ava said quietly as she let her arm hang over the side of the boat, the lake's clear water swirling around it.

            "Maybe," Riku replied doubtfully, oblivious to her actions.

            "Come on, now," she urged.  "Put your Keyblade away.  You've had it out since we left Caelestis."  Her pendant dangled around her neck as it had since they had first left the dock.

            He swung it back and pushed it into its invisible sheath on his back.  "Okay.  I suppose no Heartless will reach us on water—"

            "What?  What is it?  Oh my—your eyes!"

            The white clouds were fading to reveal dulled sapphire irises and wide pupils that were almost black.

            "I can see…"

            "You can?  Oh, Riku, I see your eyes again!"

            "Just a little…"  It was true.  He had about half as good as vision as he'd had before this whole fiasco.  Everything was very blurry.  He felt the weight of the chains return to pull a little at his shoulders.

            "Ohhh!" she screamed with delight, leaping to throw her arms around his neck.

            The small boat rocked and threatened to tip over.

            "Um…Ava…"

            But he was as happy as she was.  He had a little of his vision back.  Just a little.  When the Keyblade returned to his heart, some of his sacrifice had too.

            "Right," she laughed embarrassedly, carefully crawling back to her bench.  "I got a little excited there."

            "I don't know what this means," he told her.  "But I'm happy I get a few minutes at least."  Knowing this might be a rare chance, he swept the entire horizon with wide, grateful eyes.  He took in the lake, the beach, the huts clustered in a valley below a forest.

            The water was vibrantly blue, and Ava's smile was shiny and white.

            He didn't want to blink and have it all go away.  But his eyes dried and he had to remoisten them.  Thankfully, her beaming face was there when the eyelids lifted again.

            Riku reached out his hand for Ava's and gripped it.  "This isn't a dream."

            "I hope not," she laughed nervously.

            "This place is really beautiful," he said, deciding to look it over again.  What a treasured freedom!

            "Yes…"  She let her fingers slip down and placed both of her small, dark-skinned hands in the lap of the white skirt.  The woman switched subjects, but not without discomfort.  "I've been thinking, Riku.  Quistis told us the Heartless wouldn't come here…but they did.  Riku, I think they…"

            "…came after us," he finished for her, although the act of speaking the words was superfluous.  "I know the Heartless are drawn to the Keyblades—the same thing happened to Sora.  Then I used it to my own advantage.  But I can see what a hassle it could turn out to be."

            "Your friend Sora…I would like to meet him.  He sounds almost as nice as you."  She cocked her head and smiled sweetly.

            Riku tried to memorize that face.  After everything that she had been through, she retained that childhood innocence behind her stern maturity.  Maybe, on the inside, Ava was striving to make up for the years she had lost…

            "No, Sora's much nicer.  And much purer of heart.  He always kept hope alive.  He had a goal in mind and never strayed from it."  _Sora had the biggest heart of anyone.  He was just an overgrown kid.  His biggest problem back on the islands was what to do about his crush on Kairi.  And I…_

            "You did _not_ ruin everything," Avarielle said.

            "What?"

            "You didn't.  Don't say things like that," she told him.

            Riku guessed her had voiced some unpleasant thoughts accidentally.  "Nevermind."

            "If all that wouldn't have happened," she said, turning more wistful, "then you wouldn't have come to Caelestis, and we wouldn't be on this journey together in the first place."

            "That's true."

            "You…you can't change the past, you know?"

            "That's also true."

            "Riku, I'm worried."

            "Don't.  It'll be all right."

            She stared at the man in all seriousness.  "Those Heartless wouldn't have come here without us.  They're tracking us.  More will come if we don't leave."

            He nodded.

            "We have to leave."  She sighed.  "_Somehow_."

            He nodded again.

            "But they'll come to wherever we go…"

            "Then we'll just have to beat them, won't we?"

            She looked back into his eyes to make sure the color still lingered.  "Yeah."

            Riku and Ava strolled hand in hand from the dock back up to the building on the hill.  What Riku had thought to be an old man's home turned out to be more of a city hall.  It was a square brick structure with the word "Compitum" emblazoned over the front door.

            Immediately inside was a small lobby area with cedar floors and two dusty old armchairs, along with a desk situated at the far end.  A woman with dirty blond hair drawn up until a professional bun was sitting there, face in hands and elbows on the desk.

            "Miss Quistis?" said Avarielle politely.

            The woman looked up.  She was wearing glasses and was dressed in a three-piece suit dominated by the color blue.  Riku couldn't make out any more details, but he thought she might be something like twenty-five.

            "Hello," Riku said cautiously.

            Quistis abandoned some papers at the desk and approached them.  "Your eyes," she commented simply.

            "I can see a little since I put my Keyblade away."

            "Isn't it wonderful?" Ava said, clinging to Riku a bit more tightly.

            Quistis offered them half of a smile, her thoughts apparently drifting elsewhere.  "That's good.  You should talk to the others about it."

            "How is everyone?" Ava asked.  They hadn't spoken since last night, the evening after the Heartless attack.  Ava and Riku had made a show of getting out of the way, since Vincent seemed easily frustrated with the man's handicap.

            "A whole day and nothing's happened.  I can only pray," the blonde replied.  "And I do."  She paced to the opened front door and gazed out at the setting sun.  "Vincent and Yuna will be returning shortly for dinner.  You two go on to the dining hall, won't you?"

            Ava nodded and pointed Riku in the direction of a small brown door.  She began to tug him along until…

            "Ava, I _can_ see for now.  You don't have to help me."

            The woman shirked away.  "That's right.  I-I just forgot."

            "It's all right," he said.  He hadn't meant to snap; it was just he had felt so belittled as of late.  Riku had no words to express himself with. Besides, an admittance of his injured pride would be unthinkable.

            They proceeded, walking a good three feet away from one another, to the room with the brown door.  Inside was a small round table with mismatching stools around it.  A small stone fireplace lay dormant in the corner.

            Ava sat down and promptly began to rearrange her hair, doing nothing as Riku stumbled into a seat of his own.  He couldn't help when outlines of objects blurred together.

            Several minutes passed until a young woman entered.  She set down a jar of water and some ceramic goblets.  She had shining brown hair that reached for her shoulders.  She was wearing a sleeveless, backless kimono.  The top was white and the skirt deep purple and beautiful.  Tied across her slender middle was a beautifully decorated obi.  If Riku could have seen any better, he would have noticed that she had both a green and a blue eye.

            She seemed young, maybe sixteen or so.  Riku thought that she was probably the same age as the younger kids back on the island, Tidus and Wakka.

            "Do you need any help?" Avarielle asked.

            "Sure," said Yuna's voice in its usual friendly tone.  Riku put two and two together while Ava promptly stood and followed the summoner out the door.

            The greatest surprise of all was the man in the red cloak.  Beneath it were tight black clothes.  Red bands over the forehead served to hang back a few feet of long black hair, while closer inspection revealed that his left arm was not there at all:  in fact, the thing was replaced by metal.  His face was sober and cool, but he was definitely not an old and graying man at all.

            "Vincent?"

            "What?" responded the man, slipping down onto a chair across from Riku.

            Vincent's eyes narrowed into a glare.  "Oh, right.  Quistis told me."

            "What do you think about it?"

            "To tell the truth, I think you're very lucky.  As you keep fighting, I'm sure even this sight will go."

            Even as Vincent broke the news—or, rather, his opinion, which seemed as valid as fact—Riku noticed the picture before him blurring slowly but steadily.  "Could you not tell Ava?"

            "Whatever," the dark man said as way of agreement.

            "Something else, too…"  Riku began.

            Vincent sat there, theoretically expectant.

            "Our Keys drew the Heartless here, right?  So that means Ava and I will have to leave."

            "I'm glad you brought that up, because I was just going to request that you did just that," Quistis said as she came inside, a salad bowl clutched in her arms.

            "Quistis…"  Vincent's voice was mild and emotionless.

            "It's not that I _want_ you two to go.  I just want Compitum to be safe again."

            "I understand," Riku said, and he honestly did.

            "I'm sorry," the woman told him.  "I am just worried about the children."

            "I told you I understood," Riku reiterated with a slight decrease in patience.  "The problem isn't the why, it's the how."

            "We might know about that," Yuna said as she entered with dinner and Ava.  She easily slid between the folds of the conversation.  "The only way out is the way you came in."


	9. pseudothyrum

**_pseudothyrum_**_ -i n. [a secret door]._****

**Act II, Scene Four**:  Pseudothyrum:  From whence they came.

            Their remaining days in the haven of the crossroads began early and ended late.  Three unseen suns passed overhead, invisible to Riku's failing eyes.  Ava was away from him for most of the time, returning from magic lessons only for meals and bedtimes.

            The village leaders, Vincent Valentine and Quistis Trepe, took good care of these prestigious visitors, but memories of the Heartless attack burned strong and caution dictated actions more often than leisure.

            "Tomorrow you will leave," Vincent announced casually (maybe callously?) as dawn trickled over the fourth day.  He was standing on the dock looking out over the lake, his back to the meadow from where the Heartless had emerged.

            Riku's shoes were beside him and his pant legs were rolled up to allow for the immersion of his feet in the cool, dark water.  "All right."

            "Quistis has been assembling some supplies for your journey," the dark man continued, apparently completely uninterested in getting his feet wet.

            "Thanks."

            Vincent shifted slightly in the way he crossed his arms, one metal and one flesh.

            "It's too bad…  Are you sure Ava can't stay?  She really loves it here," Riku said quietly.  He got no response and tried to explain himself, however futile it felt.  "Here she can count on the sun rising every day.  She never could before.  She's lost a lot…"

            "Haven't you as well?"

            "But that was my fault," Riku argued.  "Nothing bad would've happened to me without my triggering it.  Ava's, well, different."

            "In the end, we're all the same to the darkness."

            "It's just looking for its next victim."

            Vincent stretched his human fingers.  "Or its enemy."

            Riku gritted his teeth at the disappearing lake and shore far, far away.  The breeze that sifted through his hair and the sounds of the lapping waves would remain, but the sunlight reflecting on the deep water would fall into the realm of memory.

            "Are you angry, Riku?"

            "Yes," he had to admit after turning the question over in his mind a few times.  "I can cope with the blindness, and even this new battle, but…"

            "You have a past that haunts you."

            Riku jerked his head up.  It was no use; Vincent was merely a collection of colored, vague shapes.

            "We all have memories that would best be left buried," Vincent said, his voice holding more promise of compassion than usual.  "But Fate is a cruel master, and decides to pit us against our own doubts at the worst possible time."

            "There's no way to escape what I've done.  I thought living in Caelestis was my fair punishment, but even if I do go and save the world three times over it will do nothing to erase the damage I did years ago."

            Silence settled on them until the standing man chose to make a pronouncement.

            "You've let the darkness into your heart."

            "I try to push it out but it's sticking there.  I…I…"  He didn't want to say it, didn't want to be too emotional in front of a man who was more reserved than Riku himself was.

            _I hate…myself_.

            "If you do nothing, you'll hate yourself even more."  Vincent turned, his cape a mere blood red blotch sweeping through the air, and walked away.

            Riku kicked the water.

            "I want you to take this," Yuna's outline told Ava's.  She was passing something to the shorter, dark-skinned woman.

            "Is this…?  Oh, thank you," said Ava with a gracious bow.

            They were back at the hall making preparations for departure.

            Riku picked up the pack that had been given to him.  He slung it over his shoulder so it rested on his left hip.

            Ava was soon at his side as well, a small backpack over her shoulders.

            "We'll escort you," Yuna announced.

            They left, Ava offering sad eyes to the small village that had so accepted her.  It was the first time she had seen people act like human beings in quite some time.  She had half wished that it would be her new home.

            The woman chose to make conversation as she fell back in step with Riku.  "Yuna and this other girl were teaching me magic.  She was really cute.  You wouldn't believe it, though—she's got purple hair and a _horn_ on her forehead!"

            "Heh.  Interesting."  Riku squinted his eyes and he could barely make out the path below his boots.  One step at a time…

            Riku thanked whatever gods might be still lingering over him when they reached the meadow without incident.  He wondered if Ava could tell at all of his worsening condition.  He hoped she was too miffed to care.

            The silver-haired nineteen year old was confused when he saw nothing but the blending greens of the forest and meadow.  Where was that huge black hole from the battle?

            Ava turned to the others and gave one final bow.  "Thank you very much for having us.  Take—"  Her voice was choking.  "Take care of yourselves!"  She swiftly hid her face by turning her back to the group.

            Avarielle spread her arms wide to the open twilight sky, giving one longing farewell glance to the setting sun.  She closed her eyes and a stream of silver light formed over her.  She swung both hands in to close the gap and gripped the fully formed Keystaff firmly.

            The woman took the rod and gave it a full turn, spinning it across the air expertly until its Key end connected with the giant padlock on Riku's back.  She pushed and the pole passed through his body in a blooming flower of silver-blue light.  Riku bit his lip till it bled, the world before him vanishing for the very last time.

            Ava gave a shout as she yanked the Keystaff back out.  Riku's chains melted away as the heavier Keyblade took their place, ready on his back.  The man drew it swiftly and in one graceful arc spun and connected it with Ava's Key.

            The pulsing vortex was back, but this time it shot out an entire rainbow of colors, much like a prism.  Ava's purple light was clear and brilliant in front of him.  They were being drawn into the rainbow, heading right for the center as their bodies again lost substance…

            "Good luck on your journey!" Quistis called, the sound of her voice growing steadily fainter.

            "See you again!" Yuna shouted, although, to their ears, it seemed her words were passing through water.

            Vincent was silent.

            Either that or his final warning was spoken too late.

             _We have to concentrate on the light…_

_            Light…_

_            It's bright here…brighter than before…_

_            Are we getting closer?_

_            Maybe…_

_            Oh, I hope so!_

_            I…I wonder…_

            The rainbow of colors began to swirl…

            _It's raining.  It doesn't  usually rain on the islands.  The last time it rained like this…_

_            The beach is empty.  Everyone has gone home.  I don't feel like going back to my empty house on the far side of the island.  I'm thirteen, big enough to take care of myself._

_            I hear something.  I look down from the tree house and I see someone on the beach all hunched over.  I race down quickly, jumping from ledge to ledge to sand until my feet are running along the wet beach and I'm next to her._

_            "Hey, what are you doing out here?"_

_            The person looks up and I can see through the sheets of raindrops that it's Kairi.  She's soaked all over and she looks like she was crying._

_            "Did you trip and fall or what?"_

_            She's just a silly little girl.  I think she's not even twelve yet.  She is always around when Sora and I are trying to play.  She likes to hide and watch when we have swordfights or races._

_            She looks at me with a quivering lip._

_            She's just a silly little girl, but she's kinda cute…_

_            I grab her wrist and hoist her up._

_            "Let's go to the Secret Place so we don't get even wetter."_

_            She nods and says nothing.  She stumbles a little so I keep holding on to her wrist.  We climb up near the waterfall and run indoors, the water now pouring down on us from the trees too.  She giggles and splashes me with some of the overflow of the pond._

_            I shake my head and laugh before we go inside._

_            The tunnel is dry._

_            Drip drip drip…_

_            We pad down the walkway on soaking bare feet, ducking under vines and tree branches until we come to the small cave.  I shake myself out like a dog and she laughs really hard._

_            "What are you laughing at?" I ask, but I'm laughing too as she imitates me, shaking her whole self out.  She's wearing a blue dress and it sticks close to her skinny body.  She has goose bumps up and down her arms._

_            She rubs her arms for warmth and I do the same.  I'm wearing a yellow shirt and oversized blue shorts.  I grab hold of one pant leg and wring it out, sending a puddle of cold rainwater to the floor._

_            The wind roars through the tunnel.  I think the storm outside is getting a lot worse._

_            I look at her and see her eyes pointed toward the outside.  I know she came here all by herself.  I wonder if she lost her parents like I did…  I wonder if she understands how I feel…about storms and everything._

_            She turns and catches me looking at her and makes a face, pulling her cheeks apart and poking her pink tongue out at me._

_            I proceed to make an even stranger face and we both end up falling over laughing.  It's getting dark and cold so I climb up and get some of the stash of matches and dry logs Sora and I keep here for when we go camping.  I build a small fire so there's not too much smoke._

_            Kairi sits up and watches me carefully.  She still hasn't said anything._

_            I put away the rest of the supplies and sit down across from her.  It's a little warmer and a lot brighter in the cave now.  I look at all the silly drawings on the wall.  There's one particular drawing that me and Sora drew of two pirates fighting.  That always used to be one of our favorite games._

_            "Are you scared of me or what?" I ask, staring her right in the eyes.  I am starting to feel uncomfortable in the silence._

_            "No," she tells me, but she seems unsure._

_            "If you are afraid," I begin, grinning wide, "it's understandable.  "I'm just that cool."  I flex my muscles and she giggles uncontrollably.  "Hey-Hey!  I _am_ the strongest guy on this whole island!"_

_            "I know.  I see you beat everyone all the time."_

_            I begin to wonder if she's watching _me_ when she's hiding.  Could she possibly…?_

_            "Sora wants to beat you," she tells me suddenly, fiddling with her toes._

_            "What?"  Suddenly my mood changes.  Sora?_

_            "He told me he wants to be strong as you and beat you someday."_

_            "He can be almost as strong as I am," I say, feeling uncomfortable._

_            "Sora's nice…" she says almost wistfully and I feel like I've been dunked into the sea.  My eyes follow hers and I see that she's looking at a picture of Sora and her on the rock, freshly illuminated by the fire._

_            All this time, she and Sora have been playing together?  When Kairi wouldn't even go near me?  Sora's been going on adventures…without me?_

_            I tell myself she's just a silly little girl.  I wonder why I ever tried liking her._

_            "We can all be friends together, can't we?" I say._

_            "Yeah, okay.  We'll go on adventures together.  It'll be great!"_

_            Maybe friends is enough.  I'm lucky to be included.  She only cares about Sora, and Sora only cares about her…  I'm the one on the outside._

_            I close my eyes._

            Ava held Riku's hand this time as they fell.  She didn't want any more crash landings.  She had her Keystaff and she had Riku, and it was enough.

            They were falling very slowly until they finally hit a batch of soft sand.  Wherever they were, it was artificially dark.  Ava reached up and pushed back a bunch of giant palm leaves.

            Riku came back into consciousness slowly.  What had initially stirred him was the strong salty breeze, but now he heard the rustle of great leaves.  He felt gritty sand sticking into his bare hands.

            "Ava?" he groaned softly, putting his Keyblade away.

            Avarielle was busy, however, looking out through the space in the leaves toward an empty beach.  Far in the distance was a woman with long brown-red hair staring wistfully out toward the sea.

=============================================================================================================

ooh…and act ii will draw to a close next chapter.  how exciting!

just want you all to know that i have been blessed with 20/20 vision my entire life so writing from riku's viewpoint isn't always the easiest thing.  X.x

hope everyone enjoyed the ff cameos! i know they were a little out of character to serve my purposes…gomen.  well, keep on reading and reviewing, if you'd be so kind!


	10. alesco

**_alesco_**_ -ere [to grow up]._****

**Act II, Scene Five**:  Alesco: An end to childhood.

            The beach was deserted save the young woman who seemed so far away.  Ava let her Key slip back into her heart and adjusted her hair and clothes.  "Riku, there's someone over there."

            Riku scrambled up and dusted himself off.  He took his pale fingers quickly through his disheveled silver locks and felt for the satchel at his hip.  He pulled at his clothes; this place was humid, making his present outfit impractical.

            "Do you know where we are?" Ava whispered, pushing back the branches and guiding Riku into the open.

            "I guess it's another step on our way to the Door…"  He jerked his head up suddenly.

            "Hmm?  Something the matter?"

            "I just heard seagulls.  This is the ocean…like where I grew up."

            "It's pretty," she said, gazing around.  It seemed that it wasn't quite sunrise yet, the air quiet in its wait for morning.  "There's just that girl.  Let's go."

            "A girl?" wondered Riku, tripping a little as his companion sped up across the beach.

            Avarielle eventually slowed down at the same point where the sands became wet and malleable.

            He heard a light gasp.

            "Excuse me, there!" Ava called.

            Before Riku knew it, thin arms were choking him and tears were staining his chest.

            "Riku!" cried a light female voice.  Somewhere inside those new sounds was buried a familiar inflection.

            He was tasting hair and smelling light, flowery perfume.  His hand slipped down to the waist of a thin shirt, something practical for island life.

            The woman slipped out of his grasp, sniffling slightly.  Some of her long hair was still caught on Riku and it slipped over him as she stepped away.

            "Riku, don't you recognize me?" she wanted to know.  "I guess I've changed, but…"

            He didn't want to guess and be wrong.  He didn't want his hopes to come against a brick wall and throw him down.

            "Oh—Oh nooo…!" said the girl, shock and despair flooding into her words.  "Riku!  What's happened to you?"

            "I'm sorry…  I truly wish I could see you."

            "I guess that explains it," she murmured, recovering a little.  "Riku, you've _finally_ come home.  It's me, Riku.  It's Kairi."

            "I'm home…"  He was home, and he hadn't even known it.

            Riku laughed bitterly.

            The three young adults walked across the beach slowly.  Their shoes and bags were in a pile under the trees, along with Riku's long-sleeved undershirt (it was getting far too hot as the sun came up).

            "Is it sunrise yet?" Riku asked.

            "Almost," Kairi replied.

            "Okay, Ava, I want you to watch."

            Riku envisioned the sight while Avarielle reacted to the majesty of a tropical sun coming up over an enormous blue sea, a place where nothing was there to block one ray of the golden rays.  Riku's brain filled in the details of the waves of color moving across the water and the sky itself.  He smiled.

            "It's so lovely!  Just like you told me, Riku!  It's even more beautiful than you said!"  She'd been holding his arm gently up until now as she guided him down the beach, but now her fingers slipped down to his hand and she squeezed it in delight.

            Riku wished he could have seen her reaction, but at least he had the memory from Comptium still fixed in his mind.  Right now he would have liked more to know what Kairi was doing.

            "What?  Oh, excuse me.  I was just thinking."  Her voice came back from somewhere very far away.  With a light sigh, the woman admitted, "I haven't really stopped to notice the sun for a long time now…  It _is_ pretty."

            Ava's fingers slipped from Riku's and she yawned audibly.  "Excuse me, Miss Kairi, but I'm feeling a little tired.  Is there anywhere for me to rest?"

            "Oh, of course," Kairi said.  "I'll show you back to my house."

            "I'll just rest here for a while," Riku told the girls and soon he heard them jogging across the sand.  The man rolled up his pants past the knees and fell back onto the beach.  His toes scraped the water while he put both hands behind his head.  He closed his already sightless eyes and just listened.

            He heard the wide, sweeping waves, the cawing of the seagulls and other tropical birds.  He smelled the salt and the earthy scent of trees and even the drifting aroma of food; someone was cooking on the other side of the island.  The breeze played with his hair and loose clothing while the sun began to beat down on his exposed skin.  The sand felt warm and good beneath him.

            _I'm home_, he thought pleasantly, and he came very close to falling asleep.

            "Hey, you," came Kairi's now recognizable voice from above the snoozing man.  He heard her plop down next to him, most likely cross-legged, as she was known to sit.

            He felt her hand scraping his cheek.  "You okay?"

            "Sort of," he told her.

            She let her hand pull back, but hesitantly.  "How long…?"

            "Maybe a week."

            "Just that long?!"

            "A lot has happened."

            "I can tell…"  Her voice held the echoes of laughter, but there was no amusement in it.  Suddenly, she was closer to him and grabbing his hand.  "Riku, are you going to stay—?"

            "I don't know.  I would really like to."

            "Then why don't you?"

            "I'm fighting the Heartless now."

            Kairi began to cry.

            Riku pushed off his elbows and sat up, reaching blindly for her shoulder.  "Hey, it's all right."

            She pressed her face against his chest.  "Everyone fights the Heartless…  I can't do anything but…"  Her words dissolved into sobs and she held him very close to her.

            He knew what this meant, and it saddened him as well.

            Sora wasn't here.

            "Kairi, didn't you and Sora come home together?" he asked quietly.

            "No," she nearly growled, her words muffled as she cried them into his shoulder.  "He reached out for me, but he couldn't come to my side…  He told me he'd come back—more than three years and he's not back!"

            "Then he didn't live up to his promise," mused Riku.

            "What?" she sniffed.

            "It's nothing."

            _Take care of her…_

            Riku felt a little guilty somehow.  All this time he had assumed Kairi, Sora, and all his friends were back on Destiny Islands living out happy lives.  He had been selfishly worrying about his own troubles in Caelestis for so long.

            And here she was, all alone.

            "I'm sorry, Kairi.  I'm sorry," he repeated, running his hand over her hair.

            She drew back from him finally, her sobs dying down.  "Riku…  It's okay.  What happened to you, anyway?  After Ansem possessed you?"

            "When Sora defeated Ansem, I was freed," he said.  "I helped Sora shut the Door at Kingdom Hearts.  But I was on the other side."

            He could sense her tensing, feel her confusion and surprise as it rippled through the air.

            "Where did you go?"

            "I wandered for a while…and I came to a place it's best you don't know about it."  He smiled at her sadly.  "I lived in a city of darkness for a very long time.  But then I found Avarielle."

            "That woman?"

            Riku thought the way she had spoken was rather strange.  Almost accusing.  Kairi?

            "Yeah.  Ava."

            He was about to ask about the tone of her voice when something whipped past his face.  It sounded almost like a blitzball.

            "Hey!" called a deep, accented voice from down the beach as the object whipped around the other side of the silver-haired man's head.

            "It's Wakka," Kairi told Riku and helped him to stand up.  "Tidus and Selphie are with him."

            Riku dusted himself off and took a deep breath.  A few more old friends he'd only be able to hear.  A few more people to be shocked and horrified by his clouded white eyes.

            "Kairi, who ya talkin' ta?"

            Kairi's happy notes sounded forced.  "It's Riku!  He's come back!"

            A mob of ecstatic laughter neared him.

            "Wow, you're so tall!"

            "And all muscle!"

            "Lookin' pretty white…heh heh."

            Riku nodded toward the voices.  "Hey."

            He heard Selphie gasp, for those shrill notes could only belong to her.

            "It's okay, you guys," he tried to assure them.  "I'm fine otherwise."  It was a bit of a white lie, but he knew that this group was pretty ignorant about the Heartless.

            The laughter had died and the air turned stagnant.

            "I _told_ you I was fine," Riku insisted.  "It's nothing."

            "Glad to see ya back safe, brudda," Wakka said, slapping Riku on the back.  "Missed ya."

            "Oh, yeah!" Selphie chimed in.  She gave him a quick hug.  "You came back so handsome, too."

            Riku mocked humility and rubbed the back of his head.  "Thanks."

            The girl giggled, returning to her normal peppy self.  "Yeah!"

            "Dude, I hope you can still blitz," said Tidus, taking Riku's hand and shaking it vigorously.  "You were one of the best players."

            "I'll try it sometime," Riku promised.  "I can still hear that ball pretty good."

            "Let's go grab some chow!" Tidus suggested.

            "You just ate!" Selphie reminded him.

            "I'm still hungry—OW!"

            "Hee hee."

            Kairi laughed.  "I think breakfast is a good idea."

            "Whoo-hoo!" Tidus screamed and ducked out of the way before Selphie could hit him again.

            Riku had forgotten how good island food could be.  He gorged himself on a mushroom omelet, plenty of fresh fruit, and even some fried fish.  Of course, he could here Tidus and Wakka slurping and shoving next to him.

            "Want some more coconut milk?" Kairi asked.

            "Sure!" he said.

            "Oh, Kairi, your cooking is waaaaayyy better than mine," whined the other girl.

            "Yours is good," Tidus told Selphie between gulps.

            "Hey!  Don't talk with your mouth full!  Disgusting!" she groaned.  "Besides, you'll eat _anything_."

            Riku just laughed, feeling around for his glass on the wooden table.  He missed and sent the liquid spilling.  "Sorry," he mumbled, feeling embarrassed, especially as Selphie and Tidus stopped their argument and a nervous quiet fell over everyone in the hut.

            "Oh, that's okay," Kairi said quickly, reaching over to sop up the mess.  "I'm all out of coconuts.  I'll go get some more."

            "I'll go with you," Riku offered, standing.

            "Okay."

            She took his forearm and they left the hut for the open air.

            They waded in the water all the way around the island to the grove of coconut trees.  It was dark and shady there.  Riku was thankful.  He loved being back home, but the hot summer sun was something he wasn't used to.

            He realized that they were standing near where they had built their raft four years ago.  He brought this up.

            "Yeah…I guess that's right."

            And Riku knew that, just like all those times during his childhood, Kairi's mind was only on Sora.

            "Those three are so silly."  She changed the subject as a nearby tree shook.  He realized she must have hit it with a log; it was how they usually harvested coconuts.  "Oh!  Watch out!"

            Something hit the ground right at his feet and Riku jumped back.  He'd almost been knocked unconscious.

            "They don't have an idea of the bigger picture," Kairi said from close nearby.  "Would you take these?"  She piled three large coconuts into his open arms.

            "The bigger picture?"

            "About the Heartless and everything."

            _Not even you can glimpse the bigger picture, Kairi.  For that, you're lucky._

            "Innocence suits children," he said.

            "But we're all growing up…!"

            "Don't be so quick to," Riku advised.  "And don't chastise them for holding on to the days they have left."

            He closed his eyes and pointed his face towards the breeze.

            "Ava and I should leave this island soon."

            "Riku…?"

            "I don't want the Heartless to follow us here.  They would spoil everything."

            Coconuts tumbled to the ground as she ran and forced him to drop his load, throwing her arms around the man once more.  "You can't leave me, Riku!  Please stay here with me!"

            It was so very tempting.  Here she was, his childhood love begging him to stay…

            "I'll come back, Kairi.  And I'll bring Sora home with me."

            Why had he made such a ridiculous promise?

            "You will?"

            Now he was bound to keep his word.

**[End Act II]**


	11. consectatrix

**_consectatrix _**_-icis f. [an eager pursuer , devoted friend]._

**Act III, Scene One**:  Consectatrix

            "We're leaving already?"

            "Yeah.  I don't want to stick around and lead the Heartless here.  C'mon."

            "But where are we going?"

            "Sora," was the man's simple reply.

            They were standing in Kairi's hut.  Ava had awakened a while ago and was currently adjusting her hair and makeup in the mirror.  Riku was standing at the open doorway; he was worried any further exploration might result in breaking one of his friend's possessions.

            "Oh, so you know where he is?"

            "Not exactly, no."

            "'_No_?'"

            Riku shifted uncomfortably before reestablishing his wall of confidence.  "Look, if Sora's not here, it means he's still trying to find the Door to the Light.  We'll just go there and meet up with him."

            He was preparing to exit as Avarielle scrambled to catch up.  "Can we even _get_ there?"

            "It's where we've been heading all along, isn't it?  Vincent told me that we could find our way by concentrating on the Light."

            "I know that, but—"

            "But what?"

            Ava obviously wasn't in the mood for an argument.  Was she tired or what?  She sighed and tried to explain.  "Riku, I don't really have a clear idea of what our mission is.  I thought we were trying to figure out what the Heartless were doing."

            "The Heartless and the Doors are all connected, aren't they?  The Door at Kingdom Hearts is how we got to Caelestis in the first place, and the Door from the Darkness is how we got to Comptium and then here."

            "But what about Sora?  I thought you told me before he had sealed the Door and he and Kairi were living back here all content and happy."

            "Then something else happened and things didn't go the way they should have," he snapped.

            "Fine, fine," she said, not sounding hurt but, rather, indifferent and dismissive.  "We have a new mission."

            "Not a new mission.  Just a clearer one."

            "Take charge, do whatever.  I'll just be the eyes."  She touched his shoulder, patting it casually.  It wasn't like her to sound like this.  She…

            "Grab your Key and let's get out of here," Avarielle ordered, nearly yanking her companion out of Kairi's house and down a wooden ramp to the sand and the sea.

            Someone jogged up to keep in step with them, creating the pitter-patter of bare feet on hot sand.  "Riku."

            "Kairi?"

            "You're really going to go?  I mean, go find him?"  Her voice didn't hold nearly as much despair or worry as it had before.  The prospect of Sora coming home apparently had lifted her spirits considerably.

            "Hey, I promised you, didn't I?"  He smiled with renewed confidence and motivation.

            "So…we'll all be home together," she said.  "Oh, do take care of yourself!"

            They stopped, something scraping Riku's face.  He sniffed and realized it was the palm leaves from before.

            Something else touched his cheek, and for some reason it hurt.

            "Oh, sorry.  It looks like you're sunburned," Kairi said, quickly drawing away her hand.  "You got so _pale_ while you were away."

            Riku merely nodded.  Somehow his freshly buried emotions began to stir within their graves.  He realized how long it had been since the full tropic sun had beaten down on his skin.  He realized how long he had spent in the dark…

            "Are you okay?  Something in your eye?"

            "Yeah."

            "Oh, I made you this," Kairi said.  "I worried, er, you wouldn't be able to, um, notice any dirt or anything near your eyes, so here."

            A long piece of smooth, cool cloth fell into his open hands.

            "A blindfold?"

            Kairi's warm hand touched his bare elbow very softly.  "I'm sorry I couldn't think of anything else to give you.  I…I'll make something special for when you come back."

            Maybe all the doubt hadn't been washed away.

            Riku pulled some of his hair away and tied the blindfold around his eyes.  He realized he felt a little better when hot, unseen light was blocked out.  He thanked his friend earnestly and received another touch on the elbow and a kiss on the cheek.

            "You—You've just gotta come back!" Kairi cried as Ava took the man back through the trees.  She really sounded like her fourteen-year-old self again.

            Riku heard what sounded like fading sobs as bare feet pounded away down the beach.

            "So we're heading for the Door to the Light?"  Ava was speaking for the first time since they were at Kairi's house.

            "Yeah.  Just think about the light."  Riku adjusted the ties of his blindfold on the back of his head.  He really wished he could have seen Kairi's grownup self at least once.  It was too much to ask, maybe.

            The man began to feel a wave of magic energy as he had experienced around Ava before.  He put his back towards the energy and accepted the now familiar feeling of a giant Key penetrating his body and physically unlocking and joining the shattered remains of his heart…

            _I'm so happy to see the sunrise he told me about.  I see the brilliant colors spreading like ripples across the endless sky and ocean.  I've never experienced anything like this before, but I am so thankful for this one opportunity._

_            He stands beside me, his eyes vacant but his smile enough to light up the rest of his face.  We are both content and happy.  The girl he knows from childhood, Kairi, is there too, but she has been watching me strangely since we met and doesn't seem very glad at all._

_            "Kairi, how's the sunset?" he asks her directly._

_            She returns from her daydreams and admits, "It is very pretty," but I don't think her heart is in it.  She looks at Riku for a very long time before she cares to notice me.  When she does, her thin eyebrows perk with suspicion and she promptly turns her head away._

_            Kairi's one of the most beautiful people I have ever met.  I saw her before, in Riku's memories, but that was her as a child and she was merely cute.  Now she has long hair, shiny and straight spreading down across her back.  It's very deep auburn, almost brown, but the sun's rays reveal very red highlights.  Her eyes are big and light, but not as large as they seemed in her youth.  They are truly blue, yet seem almost green in the sunrise._

_            She's taller than me by half a foot, but still a lot shorter than Riku.  I doubt I'll meet anyone taller than him.  She's slimly built and wears a purple skirt and a white shirt and has gold bangles around her wrists, something that looks like a pearl dangling over her chest.  I know she's a few years younger than me, only a kid when I'm already twenty, but I envy her beauty somehow, as a woman raised as I was is apt to do._

_            I want to leave the two old friends alone, so I ask if I might lie down.  Besides, I'm very exhausted from practicing magic with Yuna and Eiko yesterday.  I haven't slept much on this journey so far—not that I ever did sleep much._

_            Kairi takes me back across the island to her hut, which seems small from the outside but contains three entire rooms within.  Before we leave this side of the beach, I look back and see Riku stretching out on the beach._

_            I'm surprised how short Kairi is with me considering the piles of fond memories of her Riku cherishes.  I wonder how bitter and lonely she has grown in the time since Riku and Sora's adventures.  I wonder no further when she glares straight at me._

_            "I don't know who you are, but don't try anything else with him."_

_            I smile dumbly as if I'm confused, which I partially am.  "With who?"_

_            "Riku.  Just…leave him alone.  You'd never understand him…!"_

_            I know there's no time to explain about Caelestis and the memory-swapping in the Portal of Thought—any of it.  But I am certain I know more about Riku than she does, at least concerning what has happened since she last saw him._

_            "We're just partners," I say.  "We want to figure out what's going on with the Heartless."  She should at least know about the Heartless, right?_

_            Her sky blue eyes widen.  Yes, she knows about the Heartless all right._

_            "I don't want him in any danger!  Can't you do it?  Hasn't he been through enough?"_

_            I find myself strangely saddened by the argument I'm having with Kairi.   It's not just that I care about Riku and this is Riku's friend.  No; it's something else.  Maybe when all those visions of Riku's past whipped by me I took a piece of him into myself.  Maybe it's like I'm fighting with one of my own best friends._

_            Except I never had any friends…_

_            "You should be happy you're so ignorant…"_

_            "I'm not!  Shut up!" she screams and she's sobbing and slamming her own door shut in my face and I can see her running away from the window over the sink._

_            I find her bed and curl up on it, feeling miserable._

_            Sometime later I here Riku, Kairi, and some other unfamiliar voices enjoying a breakfast several huts away.  They didn't invite me so I don't go.  I sit alone, forgotten.  I feel sorry for myself and I can't help it._

_            I wonder if I do know anything about Riku at all, and maybe the two of us are just strangers with similar pasts thrown together.  Maybe I only love him because he was the only one around to love._

_            Maybe I'm ruining—_

            The images severed from one another and soon there was red-hot pain pulsing in the Portal instead of the tranquil, floating feeling.  

_            It hurts!_

_            What the hell is this?_

            Black shadows began to swirl, emerging from the depths of swirling pastel rainbows.

            _Heartless?_

_            They're here?!_

_            Were they waiting for us—?_

_            Damn, I can't fight!_

_            Riku…it hurts…Riku…_

            She found herself calling out to him as they dropped through the opening to another world.  They had been driven off their path.

            Riku realized they were falling again.  He called for Ava in his mind and soon felt the woman's unconscious weight in his arms.

            They hit water.

            Riku struggled to stand, and with the muscles rippling in his legs he managed to stand with Avarielle still clutched to his chest.

            He heard two clatters on what sounded like tile.  He headed for the sound, stumbling on the hard surface beneath him.  He almost tripped on something very sharp, managing to stumble and rip half his pant leg off.

            "Great," he realized before swearing a few times.  He'd stepped over his own Keyblade.

            "Hmm?" Ava awakened slowly in his arms.  She groaned quietly, as if she was half way submerged in a nightmare.

            Riku guided her downward (and it was a fair distance from his arms to the floor).

            She leaned on him heavily.

            "What?"

            "Be careful," he warned.  "The Keys are down there."

            "Oh!"  She was more awake now.  "What did you do to your leg?  You ripped half your pants off…"

            Avarielle was standing by herself at this point, reaching down to touch a sore spot on his sunburned leg.  "Burned and cut.  Let me take care of it."  Energy pulsed through his whole body, even stronger than when she had fixed his broken arm.

            He touched his cheek.  "Hey, you got rid of the whole sunburn."

            "You're really tan now, too.  Guess that Cura is really something."

            Riku's hand accepted the hilt of the Keyblade when the weapon was handed to him.  He was surprised that, even with the blindfold, he could make out Ava's shining purple light with the weapon at hand.

            "Let's put our Keys away," advised Ava.  "And explore this castle—looks pretty interesting."

            "Did you say _castle_?"

===============================================================

well, tomorrow is the last day of my spring break *sob*  i won't be able to update this nearly as much.  if, like, miracles occur, i will figure out what's going on with the plot and finish (or avoid) my homework in order to have a chapter up tomorrow, late tonight, etc.  we'll see.  i don't happen to be one of those 'updates mondays' people.  i update when i get a chapter written and edited.  hopefully, my enthusiasm for this for this story will remain high long enough for me to see it swiftly to the end.  i think act iii, the search for sora, will be the last act.  if you're still reading at this point, do go ahead and review.  jaa!

p.s. i have never heard of 'mary sue' until some recent reviews…crazy go nuts!


	12. salebra

**_salebra_**_ -ae f. [jolting; a rough patch of road]; of style , [ruggedness]._

**Act III, Scene Two**: Salebra:  Old feelings and new.

_note: switching to avarielle's point-of-view for this super-long chapter.  behold my angsty goodness._

            Avarielle thought she had managed to heal her companion's wounds, but she was worried about not cleaning them beforehand.  His torn clothes she could do nothing to repair, and merely tied the ripped tendrils of cloth back around his legs.

            She looked at Riku's face and gained nothing from it.  His dark blindfold was now secure, and his hair hung so haphazardly across his features so that all she could see of his pale face was the straight line of his mouth.

            He was more of a mystery than ever to her.  Funny, she'd seen nothing new of his heart in the Portal of Thought this time.  She had only being remembering her spat with Kairi—

            No, no _way_.  He hadn't seen that!  No, she had been concentrating too _hard_ the whole time for him to not to see it, not to do anything that might harm his friendship, his admiration for that girl…

            Had he seen it…or hadn't he?

            She couldn't tell.

            "The castle is up there," the woman told him.  She inspected a pedestal nearby.  It had some sort of stone in it and was glowing faintly.  She placed her hand cautiously over it, and before she knew it the stone was ten times as brilliant and some sort of platform had appeared.

            Her eyes fell on his throat and the pronounced Adam's apple that hung there.  He had swallowed, and now his tongue was running along dry lips.  Did he recognize this place?  Come to think about it, the setting seemed eerily familiar.  It was like a setting from a dream, what with the drifting clouds beneath and the towering, cream-colored castle rising far above.

            "Tell me…is something here to take us…up there?"

            Ava turned from the pedestal, surprised at his words.  "You know it?"

            "I wish I didn't," he muttered.  "Let's go."

            They stepped onto the platform and soon they were rushing upward, almost as though they were flying instead.  They were nearer to the great building now, perhaps on a walkway.  Through a gate the two carefully stepped, up a few stairs.  Before them, a little ways around, lay two ominous double-doors.

            "Who lives here?  I don't want to disturb anyone…"

            It was so quiet.  She let go of his hand momentarily and shivered.

            "Do you hear that?"  Riku's arms darted out and as he stepped forward.

            "Hear—oh, yes, now I do!"  Ava raised her head at the sound.  "It sounds like someone's crying."

            "It sounds like a baby," he said, shadows thickly layered over his words.  "What in the world would a baby be doing _here_?"

            "A baby?"  Her heart began to race.  She'd never seen a baby before!  Oh, what a glorious thing to imagine!

            "Ava?"

            She looked back and realized she had started to run for the sound, practically forgetting Riku.  Without a word, she took up his forearm again in light fingers and pressed forward.

            "_Shh!_  Honey, calm down, won't you?"

            They were words, faint words, but they came from somewhere close.  Ava jerked her head up and saw a flash of brown hair over the rail of a terrace.  The baby was still crying, but that baby was in the arms of someone.

            "Hello!" Avarielle called over the gap.  She wondered if she was being heard, or why she had announced herself so plainly as to rule out any future covertness.  But the dark-skinned woman was tilting upward, her neck straining to see something she had always longed to see…

            _Pure innocence._

            "Is somebody down there?"

            "Yes!  We're here!  Excuse us!"  Ava was out of breath and her neck muscles were screaming as loud as her voice was.  Someone was up there.

            She saw a sparkle of pink.

            "I'll be down in a minute—do wait there, if you could!"  The sweet, floating voice drifted down to the two travelers.

            "That woman…her voice sounds a little familiar to me."

            "Yes?" Ava said, unclasping her hands from the rail and standing next to Riku.

            "I think she might have been one of Sora's friends."

            Avarielle sucked the cool, misty air into her lungs, trying to calm down.  Sora?  Friends?  A _baby_?

            One of the huge double doors swung open majestically, as a thing like it was apt to do.  From inside spilled pools of warm yellow light onto the dull gray stone.  There was a woman dressed in a pink dress with a long, light chocolate braid.

            "Travelers?" she asked, her voice smooth and pleasant as she approached.  She was very pretty indeed.

            Riku's muscles tensed as his blindfolded eyes strained to see—something they would never do again.

            "Welcome to Hollow Bastion," the stranger said a little mysteriously, her rose-colored lips curving into a slight half-moon.  Emerald eyes fell on Riku's scarred and recently bare legs.  "Please come inside.  It's been a long time since we had any guests."

            Riku shifted uncomfortably, but the honesty on the woman's face was unmistakable, and Avarielle felt a tug at her heartstrings.

            "I think I trust her," Ava whispered to Riku from the corner of her mouth.

            The muscles in his face were frozen.

            Oh, what could be going on in that mind of his?

            "Aerith, I can't do anything with him," complained a muted male voice from indoors.

            "Honey, I'm sure you can—just rock him a little!" called back the woman over her shoulder.  Her attention refocused on Riku, and she took her large, soft eyes up and down him, catching everything from the silver hair and the black blindfold under it to the slight swaying of his feet.

            "Excuse us, Miss Aerith.  My name is Avarielle, and this is Riku.  He's my partner."  This last part came out curiously, when the woman's voice actually broke from hesitation.

            "Riku?"  Recognition flashed across delicate features, but Aerith soon shook it off.  "The night grows cold.  Let's go inside."

            Riku reluctantly held his arm back up and Ava took it.  They followed Aerith into a large room, accented by two large stairways the curved down to the main floor.  There were a few doors up above, and a walkway on the next story beneath the same ceiling.  The place was modestly decorated, but enough pale carpet and paintings of the great outdoors were present in order to take away the musty, chilly feel of the castle.

            The great door swung shut again.  Ava and Riku both spun, but only Ava could see the blond man with spiky hair and glowing eyes who had closed it.  There seemed to be something lurking deep within him, but, whatever it was, the precious bundle in his arms washed the surface of it away.

            The baby, for that is what the man with the icy glare held, was still crying, but a little bit more quietly than before.  The adult was gently heaving the baby up and down.

            "My sweet," said Aerith, coming to the small child and pressing her lips against a yet unseen forehead.

            "Oh, can I see?" the newcomer asked, and sprinted forth when her host nodded.

            He was beautiful.

            He was small and pink, with tiny fingers and tiny toes.  The nose was small, the teeth just emerging, but the eyes were big and glowing.  They were a light shade of green and stretched very wide at this point.  His mouth was big too, but only because he wailed.

            "He needs some quiet now," Aerith said to the man.  "Go set him down."  She looked at Ava's anxious face and promised, "I'll let you play with him tomorrow night.  He's only just discovered the rattle."

            With a nod and without a single word, the man nodded and left, the baby now cradled close to his chest.  He headed up one of the staircases and disappeared into one of the doors.

            Ava's mood soared for the skies.  She had seen a baby!  Her chest felt warm from the heart's renewed throbbing within.

            "You'll have to excuse Cloud," Aerith began, leaving the draft from beneath the door.  Her feet paced carefully.  "He's nervous about this parenting thing.  We were only married a year ago."

            Ava had to grope her memories thoroughly for all bits and piecing relating to love and marriage and children and families.  She had hardly known any of it, and that in her first few years of life.

            "So you two got together?" Riku said from somewhere closer to the entrance.  He was still among the shadows, although he couldn't have done that purposely…

            "Yes.  We were childhood sweethearts until…until it all happened."

            Avarielle soon got the impression that Riku and Aerith knew exactly what each other was talking about and she was being left to struggle in a sea of ignorance.

            "At that time, you were separated…"

            "But the worlds were restored and we came back here to make our home…  We came upon it once more."

            "So the Heartless have left this world forever?"

            "It's been sealed."

            "And the room of the Keyhole?"

            "Left to decay and gather dust.  We don't touch many of…_his_ rooms anymore…"

            "How many people are left in this place?"

            "A few dozen.  They all—well, most—came back from the darkness."

            "Because of him."

            "Yes, his heart was strong."

            "Despite—"

            "Yes, despite it all.  Let's go on now."

            Ava remained quiet, guiding Riku up each stone step and into a large library filled with colorful tomes that looked as though they weren't left alone long enough to gather much dust.  Her eyes scanned the titles, and she found herself wanting to inspect each one.

            Who was _he_, and who was the other he?

            Through her mind began to run images—experiences she felt neither she nor Riku could possible have had.  It was strange, much like a waking dream.  She saw the castle in its presumably former glory.  She saw flashes of a much younger Aerith and Cloud, as well as several children she could not recognize.  She felt her eyes pouring over notes in a stranger's handwriting, and she felt the weight of an unfamiliar object in her hand.

            It was so strange to start to remember events that never happened to you.  Why would these be coming to her now?

            "This place…I remember it too well," Riku said, his steps slowed by heavy thoughts.  He gulped again.

            "Squall!"

            Ava snapped her head up.  A man with longish brown hair was racing toward him, a strange looking sword at the ready as he charged.

            "I heard there were intruders," the newcomer explained, sheathing his weapon with the strange hilt.

            "They're our guests," Aerith explained calmly.  "This is Avarielle and this," she said before pausing for effect, "is Riku."

            "_Riku_?"

            "Yes…"  Riku said, and Ava found herself shivering again instinctively.  She wondered why he had to sound so cryptic all the time.

            "Very well then.  How did you get here?"

            "Oh, Squall…!" came a sing-songy voice.  Ava looked past Squall's shoulder and saw a shorter girl with a ninja outfit coming up, her bare legs racing easily across the tile floor.  In her hands was a strange weapon—it looked almost like a metal star.

            The girl stopped short a mere pace in front of Squall.  She put one hand on her hip and the other on her forehead (somehow managing not to slice anything, but that was but a small mystery).  "_These_ are the intruders?  What exactly you were making such a big deal about before?"

            Squall shifted uncomfortably, and it was all too reminiscent of Riku.  What was up with all these moody men?

            "You can't always judge by appearances," Aerith tried to put in helpfully.

            "But I can sense it as well as you two can," Squall said as way of admitting his own mistake.  "They are not Heartless."

            Riku snorted to himself, and it was only because Ava had been living with him in such close quarters that she even noticed.  The bitterness that slowly crept into his manner saddened the woman.

            "Well, look, me and Cid were in the middle of fixing up some of the old machines in the basement, so if I can get back to that…"  The ninja walked up to Ava and then Riku, vigorously shaking each of their hands.  Riku stepped back with tremendous surprise as soon as he was touched, but the shorthaired woman really couldn't care less.

            "The name's Yuffie.  Yuffie Kisaragi.  Catch y'all later!"  She waved and skipped out, still swinging around her metal star in the air.

            "This is Squall Leonheart—or just Leon, if he feels like being picky," teased Aerith.  She grinned at her companion, who seemed substantially less amused.

            Avarielle nodded to him, and the man responded by meeting her eyes for a second.

            Maybe this Hollow Bastion place had a habit of making people moody.  But the women seemed cheerful enough, so…

            "You didn't answer my question," Squall reminded them.

            Ava was about to summarize their journey when she was interrupted.

            "I don't feel like answering it now," Riku said coldly.  "I'm tired."

            Aerith nodded.  "I'll take care of you two.  We have a few guestrooms in the south wing.  Let's go."

            They went slowly along after Squall waved goodbye.  It was dark and there were plenty of small steps here and there, so Ava had to be careful in her job of getting Riku around safely.  She could tell from the way his arm tensed that he was becoming less and less patient with all the fuss.

            A nap would do him some good.

            "Let's see…"  Aerith coughed.  "This area hasn't been used for a long time, so the hallway's a little dusty.  I think the rooms are all right, though."  She pushed the first door open and it squeaked before swinging open into a dim room.

            "I'll take it," Riku decided before he set foot inside.

            Ava peeked her head in and looked around the wood-paneled, carpeted bedchamber.  There was a four-poster bed, a dresser with a large mirror, and a bedside table.  A small door led to a bathroom on the right side.  She quickly explained this to Riku.

            "I'm all right, then," Riku said, feeling his way along the wall.

            "Going to rest?" Avarielle wondered.

            "I _said_ I was all right."

            Ava backed off while Aerith closed the door.

            "I'm sure you'd like a good bath," Aerith said, a large, friendly smile revealing her white teeth.  She clasped her hands together across her chest.  "All the way down this hall is such a _nice_ room.  It has an antique porcelain bathtub twice the size of the other ones."

            Avarielle hadn't had a nice relaxing soak since the whole mess started.  She nodded eagerly.  "That sounds wonderful!"

            "All right, it's the one around the corner and way at the end…"

            She must have been laying in the steaming water for an hour and a half by the time the woman climbed out of the deep bathtub and went about drying herself with the large towel.  Her skin, though looking a bit like prunes, felt clean and soft.  Her hair clung to her naked body in little curls as water poured gently over her in little rivulets.

            She went sorting through her satchel and found her nightgown, which she had tied up until a ball and stashed away not so long ago.  Before Ava had even bathed, she had washed all her clothes in the washbasin and hung them to dry from lines on the ceiling, so the nightgown was the only thing left for her to wear.

            The indulgence of the bath had been the first time she had taken the time to feel feminine for—well, she couldn't really remember.  Ava pulled the nightgown over her head and resigned herself to sit on the edge of the bed and comb through her unruly hair.

            As she tugged the instrument down each strand, as the knots chose to be good and unravel or, instead, go about things the hard way and be ripped out by the comb's teeth, she got to thinking about the scars on her body she had seen during the bath.  The fading bruises on her arms and legs, the scratch that ran from her navel around to the small of her back…as well as the others she didn't want to think about.

            She found herself pulling harder with the comb, and the knots had no time to fight or surrender.  She tore through them, snatching some long strands from her scalp as well.

            _"Is it true?"_

            Rip.

            _"Him…  He's your customer?"_

            Rip.

            _"You so easily put your arms around me—how hard is it to be affectionate with me when you do it any night for the highest bidder?"  _

            Rip.

            "Where did you go to have someone hit you?" 

            Rip.

            Ava threw down the comb.  If she went on any longer, she'd probably end up bald.  Besides, she needed her hands free to wipe the tears that refused to stay in her eyes.

            Why was it that things had never seemed wrong until Riku found a problem with it?

            She would take a customer, he would usually treat her badly, but she would get the money to eat and the wounds would eventually heal.

            "Excuse me?"

            It was Aerith, standing at a door that had gone ajar, her eyes filled with concern when she saw Ava sitting there hugging herself, her hair half frazzled and her eyes red.

            Aerith slipped in and shut the door behind her.  "It's not good to cry by yourself, you know."

            "You heard me?"

            Ava's heart raced.  If Aerith had heard, than Riku surely would have—

            "No.  I just came to see if you wanted to come down for some hot chocolate.  But I see you're going to crawl into bed?"  Her voice was tender and sweet, like a ballad song.  She walked over, bare feet sinking gently into plush carpet, before bending down to retrieve Ava's comb.

            Avarielle sniffed.  She was not used to crying in front of people.  Especially strangers.  It was so odd to encounter those whose hearts went untouched by darkness, people who had genuine concern, even for an 'intruder'.

            "Here," the brunette said, sitting down on the bed so that she was kneeling behind Ava.  "I'll finish your hair."

            Ava nodded and she felt Aerith draw back a section and begin to very gently tug the comb through at the tips before working her way up.

            Aerith giggled.

            "Hmm?"

            "No, I just feel like a teenage girl again.  My friends and I used to do each other's hair."  Aerith finished with one section and left it to lay in front of Avarielle's shoulder.

            "Ah," replied the one with dark skin, touching the hair with some wistfulness.  She had never had any friends.  The only one who had ever brushed her hair for her had been Ava's mother.

            "But I suppose it's all changed now…"   Aerith seemed reflective, but not altogether sad.  "I wonder if everyone is safe?"

            "Your friends?  You've lost them?"

            "Through time, yes," she said.  "But I'm sure they're all right."

            There was silence, but it was neither awkward nor sad.  That part came next.

            "If I could ask…why were you crying?"

            "I was just thinking about some things."

            "Sad things?  Or happy things that have gone by?"

            "Sad…"  Ava had her hands folded in her lap.

            "Does it have to do with Riku?"

            "How did you know?"

            "Mmm."  Aerith shrugged.  "But you and Riku are still together."

            "We're just partners."

            "But you are together; you can still talk to each other.  You can still patch things up between you two and be friends."

            "It's not that…"

            "You want something more?"

            "No.  I mean, I don't know."  Avarielle sighed.  Where to begin?  How many things had happened so far—how many were yet to happen—that would prevent any true friendship between Riku and her?

            "Riku he seems to me like he's a very passionate person.  He's confused on the inside, so he forces himself to choose a goal and then runs, full speed, straight for it.  He runs so fast he doesn't even consider changing course, and ignores all doubts that arise."

            "You know him?"  How well?

            "Years ago, I did—somewhat.  I was one of Sora's friends."

            At the mention of Sora's name, Ava felt something get stirred up inside her chest.  _Sora_…  There was so much longing attached to a single word.

            "You know Sora, too?"

            "No…not really.  I mean, I've never met him."  She found it hard to believe the words she was speaking, even though she knew them to be the truth.

            "Oh, all right," Aerith said, but she sounded doubtful.  "Sora was incredible.  I wonder what's become of him now."

            "He's not home yet."

            "_What?_"

            "The last place we went was Destiny Islands, Riku and Sora's childhood home.  Apparently, he hasn't come back.  Everyone else was restored to their worlds when the Door at Kingdom Hearts was sealed, except for those two…"

            She noticed that Aerith had stopped combing her hair.  Ava turned around to face the kneeling woman, only to find her staring straight ahead, as if in shock.  The comb was clenched in her hand.

            "If-If Sora isn't back yet…it means that the threat isn't over."

            Avarielle nodded slowly.  She could see how it upset Aerith, but soon Caelestis and the journey after the Heartless was explained.

            Aerith insisted that they go tell the others, and before Ava could do anything, she was racing along at the woman's side as they made for an emergency meeting with Cloud, Squall, Cid, and Yuffie.

            When Ava had finally retold her story for the fourth and most frustrating time, she added, "I don't think this universe is in danger any longer.  Didn't Sora seal all the worlds?"

           "He did, but I'd hate for any world to fall to darkness."  Aerith had her baby again, and was gripping the bundle with love and fear.  Cloud sat next to her, arms crossed over his chest as his eyes watchfully scanned the library.  He seemed disinterested, but Ava thought this could just be an act.

            The man named Cid seemed much older than his companions, although he still had blond hair held back by a pair of goggles on his forehead.  Currently, he was puffing away at a cigarette, muttering about the "damn Heartless."

            "Caelestis," said Squall, and the ethereal tone of his voice didn't seem to be an accident.

            "You know it?" Ava wondered, clutching her pendant right over her heart.

            "The city of heaven," the man said, slowly walking forward.  "Where everything was first created.  Where life was born."

            "_Before the worlds were separated, there was one world of infinity_…" quoted Avarielle, the words of the dusty old book coming back to her in a rush.

            "You know that scripture?"  Squall's face now showed emotion:  curiosity with a hint of amusement.

            Ava spun, turning away from the group of people whose eyes were so intently set on her.  "It's all lies now.  Caelestis is no longer anything but a city of sin."

            "But you survived it."

            "Survival.  It is humanity's most primal instinct," Cloud interjected coolly.

            Her words turned a little vicious and angry.  Man, her own race, seemed an enemy sometimes.  "I know all about primal instincts."

            Yuffie whistled.

            "Don't make light of her situation, Yuffie," Aerith said severely.

            "I survived Caelestis—but what has it gotten me?  The darkness there taints every heart."  Ava was only wearing her nightgown, and her bare arms grew cold.  The old castle was full of drafts.

            "If you were in another universe entirely, how did you get to the Destiny Islands—and here?"  Squall didn't seem to be asking anyone in particular.  He simply pondered the question aloud.

            "I don't really know.  We've gone, well, wherever the Portal of Thought takes us."

            "Your journey is decided by your memories."  Cloud spoke for the second time, and his wife seemed intrigued by this rarity.

            "The Portal of Thought is the space between the Doors to Light and Dark," Squall explained when Yuffie looked up at him cluelessly.  "It stretches from the Door to the Darkness to the Door to the Light, and all worlds exist in between."

            "I've never been to any 'Portal of Thought,'" the ninja muttered.

            "It can only be taken by those who have passed through a Door.  Normal people couldn't handle being separated from their bodies."

            Yuffie looked over at Ava with a new sort of respect and interest.

            "You also went to Compitum, correct?" Squall asked.

            "Yes."

            "That's the crossroads of the universes," he said to Yuffie, who glared up at him.

            "I'm not a child," the girl complained.  "You just—"

            "Let's move on," Aerith broke in, wanting to prevent an argument.

            "I also want to talk about the Keyblades," Squall announced.

            "I really don't know much about them, except for what Vincent told us…"

            "_Vincent_?"

            Ava's eyes flew over to the shrieking Yuffie.  "Yes…"

            "Oh, it's nothing…"  The girl licked her lips.  "I just thought I remembered that name…"

            "It does sound familiar," Aerith agreed.  "But I can't tell.  What were you saying, Miss Ava?"

            "I was talking about what Vincent and Quistis told us about the Keys—"

            "_Damn!_" Squall swore, letting his hand meet his forehead with a satisfying _smack!_  "The worlds are more mixed up than I thought!"

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that sure was a doozy (sp?), wasn't it?  this chapter was about twice as long as most of mine (4,000 words compared to 2,000), but i couldn't find a good place to equally split it.  i worked on it a little over the week (by the way, going back to school kinda sucks), but the bulk of it was done today (saturday).

actually, a lot of the stuff i wanted to do from ava's viewpoint didn't end up happening and i took it in another direction instead…so the next scene might be her as well (and wow! is it _ever_ easier to write from someone's view if he isn't blind!  good goodness!)

btw, i can't think of a good name for cloud and aeris/aerith's son.  he'll probably go unnamed.  speaking of that, i've been thinking about how _fatalis_ will end…  but it's rough going with all my new paranoia about "mary sues" and the like.  (no, i have nothing against them, their followers, or even the people who hate them.  i'm not getting involved in that mess).

well, tell me what you think!  ^_^


	13. amator

**_amator_**_ -oris m. [a lover , friend, admirer]; esp.[the lover of a woman]._

**Act III, Scene Three**:  Amator.

            Avarielle paused at the doorway to his room.  She was holding a small wooden platter.  On it was perched some steaming coffee and a warm bowl of broth.  She wanted to knock, but any confidence she had ever possessed in all her days seemed continually driven out of her by confusion and doubt.

            Finally, she managed to balance the tray on one forearm.  She placed the back of her hand against the door and let her knuckles clunk against it.

            Once…

            Twice…

            "Yes?"

            The door was slightly ajar.

            "Could I come in?"

            "Whatever you want."

            Thinking this was the closest thing to an invitation she could get, Ava pressed her back up against the wall and backed slowly into the room.  It was eerily dark (the sun had long since set).  From the lantern light down the hall, a little bit made its way in to illuminate a sitting and—to Ava's slight embarrassment—half-naked Riku.

            Luckily, it was the appropriate half of him that was still clothed, so she came farther in.  Her bare toes squeezed at the tendrils of carpet just beneath her.  She was looking down at him as he sat.  He had one leg hanging off the edge of the bed, the other folded up beneath him.  One hand was on the bed, the other situated deep in his hair.

            "Ava?

            "Yes…?"  She left his side to place the tray on the bedside table.  Something was in the way.  She fingered it and found it to be Riku's blindfold.  He had taken it off?

            "I don't need any candles, so there aren't any," Riku explained.  "You're free to light one."

            "All right."  She found a lantern hanging over the table, and went about lighting it with some matches stowed in a drawer.  A soft, wavering light jumped across the room.

            "Can you close the door?  There's a bit of a draft," the man said.  His voice went neither up nor down.

            Avarielle quickly did as he asked.  The man seemed rather subdued.  Even worse than normal.  "Did you get lots of sleep?"

            "No.  I washed off.  That's about it."

            Ava had left him more than three and a half hours ago.  That was all he'd done?  Well, plenty of thoughts must have run through that brain of his during the time.  If only she could know.  She watched him carefully.  He was moving slightly, and now her back was toward her—

            "What?  What is it?" he demanded in an upset and angry tone.

            Avarielle then realized that she had been screaming.  That she had cried out at the sight of the burned flesh forming a seven-pointed star that spiraled out from the middle of his spine.  It looked painful; the dark, browned skin sunk into the eerily white background of his back.  Riku already seemed half-starved from the way his spine stuck out, and now this…

            "There's a scar on my back, I know," Riku said.  "I found it already."

            Ava couldn't help herself but draw nearer to him, inspect the horrendous, painful thing more closely.

            "It doesn't hurt that much."

            The skin seemed so dark.  Perhaps the wound ran all through his skin.  Perhaps the pain ran deeper than that.

            "I can hear you sniffling back there.  You don't have to hide from me.  I can't see you, wherever you are."

            It was true, but he didn't have to say it.

            "Come and sit down."

            She sat down on the bed, on the other side, making sure a foot or two lay between them.  She could see his face now.  The blindfold was gone, but his eyes remained closed.  It was a horrible sight, his chest was.  The muscles, which her pupils were unconsciously tracing every curve of, were scarred and cut in many places.

            "I brought you some broth—and coffee, because I _thought_ you would have to wake up.  Maybe you shouldn't drink it now."

            "I will," he promised.  "I don't want to fall asleep." 

            She didn't ask why.  He didn't seem likely to tell.

            "Ava…I've been thinking."

            "I'm sure you have."

            "You never mentioned anything about my sight leaving for good."

            _For good._  It echoed in her mind and heart, and she wanted to cry for him, as she had already done.  Riku felt his fate had already been decided, and was coming to terms with it.

            "You never mentioned it either," she pointed out, trying to keep her voice light.

            "You weren't surprised when it didn't come back."

            "Quistis overheard you and Vincent talking.  She told me.  I thought it would be easier for you if I didn't say anything."

            "_Hmm_," he went, quite noncommittally.

            "Have the broth, then," she said, getting worried about how he looked.  The two of them had been eating well on the last two stops on their journey, but that wasn't enough to cure years of want.

            "Okay."

            She served it to him and he slurped it down before repeating the process with the hot coffee.  He seemed relieved to have the caffeine in his system, but Ava worried about him not sleeping.

            Because of his prosperous profession, Ava had lived better than many.  She lived in the safest apartment complex in town and had the healthiest meal she could scrounger up every day.  Of course, she wouldn't bring this up with Riku, because of what he thought.

            "I can tell you're worried about me," Riku said, and Avarielle flitted around with the idea that he could read minds.  

            No way…

            "It's in the air…your feelings," he said from above the remains of the coffee.  The steam that condensed on his bare features seemed pleasant.  "They are thick."

            Avarielle made a face at him.  Fine, she was worrying for him, and he was taking the time to be mystical.  He…

            She plopped down on the bed next to him so he couldn't miss her point.  "When did you turn into a sage?"

            She was expecting a sarcastic remark or some sort of criticism, but, instead, he grimaced.  Like he was working to hold back something.

            Ava touched him gently, as was habit.  He didn't whip his hand away like usual.

            "Riku, what's the matter?"

            "I know this place," was all he said.

            Ava recalled the strange flashbacks she had been having earlier in the library.

            "So you didn't sleep at all?"

            The man shook his head once.  "I don't want to sleep…"

            She could sense emotion lurking into his voice, but it only served to worry her.  It must have meant Riku was really upset.

             "I'm sure we're safe here, Riku."

            "It's not that…"

            "Aerith and the others have been very kind.  Oh, and her baby is the sweetest thing!"  Ava had been holding the child earlier, and her bare arms were still warm with good memories.

            "I guess there never were any children in Caelestis," he mused.

            "Haven't been since I was young."

            "I grew up surrounded by kids my own age," Riku told her.  "I'm sorry you didn't get that."

            "Yeah," she said softly, sadly, reflectively.  Avarielle knew she had promised him that she wouldn't think about his memories, but now they all came rushing at her.  She could almost feel her legs flying across the beach as she raced Sora, remember her stomach stretching to capacity with home cooked island food.

            He had had, for such a long time, such a bright childhood.

            Ava's eyes ran over the burdening chains on his chest.  They seemed to strange today—almost transparent, even.  She hadn't even noticed them from behind.  She wished in vain she could touch them, somehow determine what they really were, what the chains represented.  But her curiosity went unrequited.

            "This place…"  Riku seemed to choke, as if all the matters of the world were swelling up inside of his body.  He seemed as though he might…just might…

            Cry.

            "Riku, I think you need some rest.  Do you want to go to sleep now?"

            "No—_Never_…  Not in this place…  Not here…  Not where the nightmares began…"

            "Riku, I'm here—"

            "_Get out!_" he shouted, ice dripping from his voice as all his muscles tensed.  He was throwing away her arm as he launched himself to his feet and grabbed at his chest, clawing the skin.  He was bent over, but the visible part of his face was contorted by pain and anger.

            "Riku—!" she tried, the feelings pushing out from her chest.  She backed away, stumbling, gripping her pendant so tightly the chain pulled hard at the back of her neck.  What was this sudden reaction?  What in the world could have spurred this violent response?

            "Leave me," he breathed, obviously trying to regain some control.

            "No!  I-I won't.  You need somebody here with you now—!"

            "You're wrong!  I don't need anyone!"

            _You're acting like a big baby_, she thought of him as her body trembled.  There was something irrational going on inside his brain, some sort of paranoia.  She wouldn't let it get to her.  She wouldn't!

            "I'm staying with you," Ava insisted.            

            "Why?"

            _Why?_  "Because I'm your friend."

            "What would you know about friendship…"  The words were spat now, cold and hard as his body convulsed.  He was scratching at his chest still, trying to destroy some foe that lurked deep within.

            "It's true," she admitted, the walls that contained her emotions beginning to crumble.  "I never had any friends before…  But I thought of you as my friend, Riku."

            She calmly walked to him, even as he struggled against the reality that attacked him and his heart so fiercely.  She touched him.

            It was a mistake.

            He threw her off again, but this time with such passion that she tumbled to the floor in a heap, and she tasted carpet as she heard his bitterness in the form that horrified and hurt her.

            "I'm sorry that you would never know anything about betrayal…because only a friend can betray another…you would know nothing of love…"  He was breathing hard, trying to steady himself, trying to fight the invisible pain.

            "You're wrong!" she cried, not bothering to climb from her lowly position of the floor. "I know love—and now I know betrayal!  Betrayal because you never trusted that I have feelings of my own!"

            And perhaps he had started feeling guilty for this, for he fell to his knees and began to gag on his words, holding his face in his hands.  "Ava…no…"  He was mumbling.

            She crawled toward him, forgetting her own injury for a moment.  He sensed her presence, and swept her into his arms, and held her so tight she couldn't breathe.

            _How come you can only hold me close when you're depressed…?_

            I thought you arms would feel so good if I could only be in them again… 

            "Not like this, Riku," she whispered, struggling from his grasp.  "Because you don't mean it—you don't mean any of it.  I'm just something to hold on to—but I'm not your Kairi for you!"

            "Don't talk about her like you know her!" he roared, leaping to his feet.  Somehow those blind eyes meant moot as Riku chased Avarielle to the wall.  He could sense her movements, follow her exactly until he had her pinned against the cold wood surface.

            She was stepping backwards, fearful of the anger sprouting from his words and written all over his face.  His eyelids were open, and the clouded seas that lay behind them were stormy.  He was so big and strong and her body was so small and weak.  Would he throw her again?  Would he slap her?  Cut her?

            "You told me before," she said, unable to stop herself, "about how much could it mean for me to put my arms around you—but you do the exact same thing, only holding me when you're at your loneliest!"

            "What would a prostitute know about love?"  Riku was so big, breathing so hard right above her.  He was sweating, he was so upset.  His naked arms were pushed against the wall, the palms resting right above her shoulders.

            "I know that I love you," Avarielle muttered before slipping from under his arms and running for the door.

            "You're lying!" he screamed after her, disbelieving, as she stumbled out into the hall.  "You must be…"

            The sound of his voice faded into the distance as her bare feet pounded down the corridor.  She was running, running faster than she had ever run before.  Her feet knew the destination but her mind hadn't a clue.

            She realized, eventually, through her flurry of tears, that she was going up.  Up through the old castle to which she had never been before today.  Her path led her outside and then in again repeatedly.  Eventually, her run melted into near-drunken stumbling.

            Up and up she wound, pressing on as the cold hair met her still damp hair and her continually moistened cheeks.  Now, for most of it, she slid along the wall, the cold stone wall of the castle.  Where and why was she going?  Only her legs knew.

            She really didn't care what was going on in the outside world.  That is, the outside world being the one that existed outside of her own mind, her own squall of thoughts, her own blurry of worries.

            Her memories kept flashing before her as she began to relive three different pasts, three different lives.  Everything was all jumbled up, she had no idea who or where she was anymore.

            Were Sora and Kairi her best friends?  Was she the bringer of darkness?  Or, was she simply a lonely little girl, missing her mother?

            Up and up she wound, her body screaming as her muscles reached their limit.  Soon, she had to drag herself as she reached what seemed to be an end to her senseless journey.  She had kept pushing farther and farther.

            She was in a large room, bathed in dust and the musty smell of disuse.  There were six glass chambers along the walls, just big enough for a small person to fit in.  She wondered, wildly, who had vacated these cavities.

            The answer came and she saw herself placing helpless girls under the glass as they slept unconscious, and then she saw herself summoning up their power, and she could feel such darkness in the room…

            Her mind cried out at the onslaught of paranoia.

            She was going crazy, wasn't she?

            Ava groped for her own memories, her own identity.  Soon, her own short-term memory kicked in at last and she saw Riku throwing her to the ground and she felt the pain of his words really sink in.

            Why had she been placed at his side only to watch him kill himself with self-hatred?  Why could she only sit back and watch as he tortured himself with the guilt he harbored so deep inside?  She was beginning to understand why he had the chains.

            And soon her own feelings of helplessness were pushed out of the picture by the images of girls she had never met struggling in their prisons of glass, the feeling of immense power building up as both light and dark climaxed…

            There was not enough room in her head for all of this.  She grabbed the sides of her face, tearing at the hair until it ripped out, hitting her own skull until bruises formed.

            _Fighting…for both darkness and for light…_

            She tumbled to the center of the floor, her last sight the pendant flying up before her face, her last thought that one word that meant so much…

            _Sora…_


	14. claviger

**_claviger_**_ - geri m. [the key-bearer] , of Janus._

**Act III, Scene Four**:  Claviger.

            It was raining.

            No, no:  it was _pouring_.

            He couldn't see the difference, but he could definitely _feel_ it.  He was fighting a hard battle against nature, charging forward into the storm as the wind and rain threatened to blow him off the castle down through miles of mist to No Man's Land.

            Riku felt his way along, his hands slipping down the wall.  He knew the way.  He didn't want to admit it to himself, but he knew the way.

            It was deep into the night by this time.  Hours had passed since his heated argument with Avarielle.

            He…

            Why did he always push her away?

            The chains seemed heavier than a second earlier.  Like Fate was giving him a physical reminder of his mistakes.

            He sneered angrily up at Fate.  Fate, who probably just laughed in return.

            It had taken him all this time to calm down and begin to sort through everything.  Most of these hours had been spent banging his head on the wall (hey, it had been right in front of him).  Amazingly, his heart persisted to hurt more than his forehead, no matter how hard he had worked for the contrary.

            He had just gotten to thinking, and thinking wasn't so good in this place.

            He shivered, even though he had long since grown tolerant of the rain.

            Finally, his path along the wall brought him stumbling inside for the last time.  He walked slowly in the cool, musty air, the water running in rivulets off his naked skin to form a wet trail behind him.

            He pulled his hair back; it was clinging desperately to his face with the moisture.

            He stopped at the entrance to the final room.

            Riku had long ago learned to master the repression of Ansem's mind, another mind which slept within his own.  But now that the silver-haired man stood in this room—oh, and he _knew_ this room—he had his own past to confront.  The nightmares that fringed his thoughts, that assaulted him in his sleep…

            They were steadily coming to life.

            One slow step, and then another, and at last another…  He moved slowly—

_awkwardly_ for a man of his stealth and youth—deeper into the chamber where it had all climaxed.  The chamber where he had fought—nearly to the death—his best friend.

            But now, another thought struggled to the surface in his mind.

            He could sense her presence.

            "Ava?" Riku tried weakly.  He stumbled to the center of the room, no longer anything to hold his hand against.  His toe hit something and it took all his coordination to fall back and not over whatever it was.

            He touched it, finding it to be the soft skin of a hand.  He knew that it had to be Ava's hand, for he had held it many times before.  He thought secretly that such hands were not meant to bear a weapon, but he knew she'd be displeased to hear that.

            "Ava?" he tried again.  He got no response and, in turn, became worried.  "Ava?"  He called her name again several more times before he managed to touch her forehead and then nose, and then hold his hand over her smooth lips.

            The tiniest puff of air came out, dispersed, and then came again.

            She was breathing.

            Riku was so relieved he swept her small body up into his arms before he knew what he was doing.  Seconds earlier the most horrendous of fears had passed through his thoughts and had been fought down by the urgency to find out how she was and then to hold her close.

            She moaned softly and stirred the tiniest bit, so he lay her down gently with her neck and head over his arms.  She didn't seem to wake.

            Riku worked it out with his body so that his legs were sprawled across the floor.  He was drained, not to mention soaked.  Ava seemed all right.

            She wouldn't wake, but that was probably for the best.

            He curled his fingers into hers, the loose grip somehow easing his troubled heart.

            Why couldn't he tell her…that he needed her?

            It was good she wouldn't wake.  At least for now.  She would be surprised and angered by his presence.  He would take that hatred that burned deep within him and shoot it out like a dragon's flame, just as he had before.

            He held her hand, and he felt better.  He didn't know if he loved her.  He didn't think he did.  It was just that she…  When he was around her, she…

            She was needed.  Desperately.

            Riku knew full well that she had grown up without tales of fairytale romance, without childhood games, without a parent's love.  She didn't really know about love at all.

            He couldn't understand the words that had come out of his mouth.  He felt horrible about it all.  How she had been a prostitute.  He didn't understand how anyone could willingly sell her dignity for a price.  Something about the idea of Ava giving herself up for a few coins several nights a week made him angry.

            Not angry with her, but that's who he yelled at.

            It was the world that was the problem.

            Riku thought they had escaped Caelestis, but he was realizing that its horrors left scars that were burned into him forever.  Was it the same for Avarielle?  Or was she getting past it?

            He thought this unlikely as he slightly shifted his arms.

            Riku's head spun at the sound.

            The sound of footsteps.

            "Who's there?" he called.

            The footsteps slowed.  They were heavy, baring a lot of weight.  They were deliberate, slowed by thought.  They were close, ready to strike.

            "Who's there?" Riku asked again, this time in a growl.

            "It's nobody," said a deep voice Riku was pretty sure he didn't know well.  He also heard some sort of flapping.  Although it wasn't quite that of cloth…

            Riku tensed, using his body as a shield against the voice a few feet from his back.

            "Stand down," said the voice, amused.  "The woman is fine.  I have no intention of hurting anyone tonight."

            Riku wasn't about to trust this man.

            "Why are you here?"

            The man completely ignored the question.  There was the shuffling of cloth and feet, as if he was changing position slightly.  "That woman has no idea of the dark power she uses with each stroke of her staff."

            Riku was silent, but the rippling of his muscles on his bare, wet back must have been enough of a clue to his inquiries.

            "You realize what she holds in her hand?"

            "It's a Key.  That's all I know."

            "How could an ordinary Key—not that they are commonplace—pull the shattered remnants of a broken man's heart into a weapon of the Heart?"

            The question penetrated the silence, hanging in the musty air of the chamber.

            "I don't know," Riku lied.

            "You know what she holds."

            "I don't know," he insisted again, clenching his free hand into a fist.  At that moment, he was so angry at his barren eyes.  Riku wanted to stare the stranger down for that mocking tone of his—for the amusement in his voice and manner.

            "Do you know what it does?"

            _Shut up_, Riku snarled in his mind, but curiosity sealed his dry lips.

            "Do you know what power has burned that scar into your back?"

            _Shut up_, he thought again despite his intrigue.

            "As your heart becomes more fragmented with your self-loathing, she must work harder and harder each time to draw your power out.  Did you know that?"

            "Be quiet!  How would you know any of this?"

            "It's not my place to tell."

            "Then why is it your place to taunt me with riddles?  Get out of here."

            "The job of the Keybearer is not as easy one.  Yet, to hold a Key when one has no faith, when one loathes his own self…  That is the most difficult task of all."

            The stranger clapped his hands together three slow, mocking times.

            "How _dare_ you?" screamed Riku, letting Ava slip off his lap to the cold floor.  He charged at the voice, running with his arms outstretched, trying to catch this joker.  "How could you know anything about it—!"

            Riku tripped and crashed to the floor.  His lip split open and began to bleed fervently.  He spit some of the blood out before wiping at his mouth with the back of his naked forearm.

            "Before you fulfill your destiny, I would suggest growing up," said the voice, and the stranger's footsteps disappeared through the entrance.  If Riku had had his eyes, he would have watched after, would have seen one crooked wing emerging from a sea of long, silver hair…

            Riku sat for a long time next to Ava's unconscious body.  He was comforted somewhat by the faint rhythm of her breathing, which helped to drive out the howling of the winds outside.

            He raised a few fingers to his lip, relieved to find out that it was now scabbing over.  He had no idea how much blood was spread across the stone floor from his frantic actions earlier.  He guessed the dark liquid spotted his clothing and skin as well as the cold surface beneath him.

            Riku had no idea at this point that a large part of Ansem had passed from him to her unsuspecting mind during their times in the Portal of Thought.  He wasn't even sure how many of his own thoughts now lingered with the woman's in the small, dark-haired head of hers.

            But these things he didn't even consider.  He was now fighting to hash out the words of the stranger.

            Riku wondered if Ava had been having problems with her Keystaff.  She hadn't seemed to be so far.  It was always light in her hands, and she was growing more skillful with it.  At least she had been progressing nicely when Riku could still see…

            He slammed his fist on the floor.  Damn.  All the nuances of society were lost to him along with his vision.  He couldn't read people's faces, or monitor their behavior, or any of it.

            Being blind was almost…

            Lonely.

            Every situation he was in seemed to be missing something.  Everyone treated him differently.  As if, perhaps, his intelligence and personality had changed along with his eyes.  Because one part of him was different, everything was different?

            But this was nothing compared to the palpable pity and sympathy that followed him everywhere.  His old friends felt sorry for him, his love felt sorry for him, even people he just met felt sorry for him.

            His fist hit the floor again.  It hurt, but he didn't care.  It didn't hurt enough to distract him.  Not anymore.

            _Kairi…_

            Riku fixed the girl's image in his mind.  He knew he would never again know something so beautiful, even if his sight happened to return.  Kairi…she had turned out much lovelier than he could have imagined, even in the depths of loneliness experienced in Caelestis.

            But she had changed in more than appearance.  The tenderness Kairi had shown Riku deeply contrasted the bitter face she had turned on Avarielle.

            _Sora broke his promise to take care of Kairi.  So now it's my job to bring her happiness.  I don't care if I have to bring Sora—I don't care if I have to bring her the moon itself!  Seeing her again reminded me how deep my feelings are.  I want to make her happy.  I want to get rid of that bitterness that has grown in her years alone…whatever it takes._

            "Whatever it takes," he repeated in a low voice to make the promise seem more real.

            "Whatever what takes?" Avarielle said after groaning gently.  She was waking up.  She moaned again before gasping.  "Riku!"

            Riku tensed.  The thoughts of Kairi flowed out of his mind.  He remembered Ava now, and remembered the fight, and, most disturbing of all, remembered the stranger's words about her Keystaff.

            Her hand softly lingered on his cheek.  "There's blood all over your face…are you all right?"

            She was distracted, forgetting the fight completely.

            "Yeah, I'm fine," he told her coldly, craning his neck backward to avoid her.

            She drew away.  "Okay."

            "I'll clean up later, all right?"

            Avarielle didn't say anything, but he thought he heard the usual ruffles of her hair like she was nodding.

            But them, arising from the uncomfortable silence, her whimpers arose.

            "What?  What is it?"

            "Riku…" she tried.  "What is this place?  With the glass chambers?"

            "This…"

            "I feel such horrible emotions here!" she screamed out.  "I feel someone's hatred burning inside my heart—Riku, _what is it_?"

            "It's Ansem."  Riku sighed, as all he could do was listen to her suffer through her own confusion.  "I'm sorry…  This is because of me."

            "Ansem?  Wasn't he the one who possessed you?"

            She didn't sound altogether well.  In fact, she didn't sound well at all.  She sounded like she was speaking from a nightmare.  Like she was beginning to go insane, and was maybe halfway there already.

            "Riku…I'm scared…"

            "Ava—"

            "I can't handle this…  My memories are all jumbled up.  I can't remember who I am…Riku…"

            He tried to reach out to her, but she had gotten up and was pacing around in circles, crying softly and then loudly from different parts of the room.

           Finally, her small body landed in his arms, her tears began to slide down his chest, and her breathing slowed.  She had again slipped into the realm of dreams.

            Hopefully, not the realm of nightmares…

            Riku walked slowly down through the castle, Avarielle still and quiet in his arms.  His feet followed each other single file across the chilled stone and carpets teeming with dust.  For the times he was outside, it grew increasingly warm and humid.  Day was springing up after the night.

            Eventually, Riku's intuition abandoned him and he was left to stumble around by himself.  It was times like these that he realized how much he needed Ava's hand wrapped around his, her gentle words instructing to him to watch this or step over that.

            "Hey.  Hey, you there."

            Riku stopped at the voice, turning his eerie white eyes towards it.

            "Riku," said the voice.  "It's me, Leon.  What's wrong with the girl?"

            "I think she's unconscious."  Riku realized how dumb he must have sounded, saying that so plainly as he had.

            "Where were you two all night?  Aerith was worried."  Leon approached with heavy footsteps.  "She's a little cold…  Let's get her to her bed."

            "Yeah," Riku answered, a little relieved he didn't have to ask for help.  It was for Ava, but…

            "Hey, Yuffie, go get Aerith!" Leon called, his voice echoing down the corridor.

            A high voice yelled back.  "Yeah—hey, what's with—"

            "Just get her," commanded the man.  "Tell her to come to Avarielle's room."

            "Fiiiiiine…"

            Riku shifted uncomfortably as he waited for their conversation to end.

            Leon finally told Riku to go, and they proceeded hurriedly.  Riku had to rely on Leon's instructions, which were often too little too late.  He half tripped several times, bothering to stop himself more for Ava than for his already dying pride.

            After so much struggling, they were in Ava's room.  It smelled of flower, or at least perfume.  It smelled strongly of her, a scent he was growing accustomed to.  The woman was placed on the bed, and she mumbled something softly.

            "Is she awake?" Riku wondered.

            "I don't think so."

            Riku knelt down on the floor, his hand still lingering over hers, which was indeed cooler than normal.  He could feel Leon moving around, bring the quilts over her body.

            "She looks exhausted," Leon commented objectively.

            Aerith ran in at that moment, audibly recovering her breath.  "What's happened?"

            "I'm not sure.  She was very upset, and then she collapsed…"  Riku's explanation was wandering, and half of last night he left out because of his own shame and his natural mistrust of things he could not see.

            Aerith took several minutes to inspect the other woman, mumbling her thoughts, occasionally casting a humming magic.

            "I can't wake her," she pronounced sadly.

            Riku's upper teeth connected with his bottom lip and tore through the freshly sealed wound.

            "Something happened in her mind…probably involving the Portal of Thought.  I'm sorry.  I think she had too much in her head.  She couldn't handle it."

            "She's gone insane?" wondered Yuffie, who had apparently come in, although there was no humor in her tone.

            "I don't know…"

            Riku's head hung down limply.

            "What should we do?" Leon asked.

            Aerith considered the situation over again.  "There's nothing we can do.  I suppose we have to let her rest for a while."

            Riku's heart cried out with pain.

            He felt like he was losing her…


	15. discessio

(warning:  as we build towards the finale, things get, um, a bit graphic.  little kiddies are **not** advised to proceed.  O.o )

**_discessio_**_ -onis f. (1) [going separate ways , separation];  (2) [a going away, departure]._

**Act III, Scene Five**:  Discessio:  The beginning of the end.

            Three days passed with no change.  Three days of heated discussions, unfounded accusations, and huge misunderstandings went by and Avarielle managed to sleep through it all.

            Hopefully, her mind remained at rest.

            Then, on the third night (for the sun rarely looked over such fateful decisions), Riku decided that it was time to say goodbye.  Aerith said Ava was getting better.  Before she awoke, he needed to be on his way.

            Leon doubted that he could go on.  "You two needed each other every time you passed from one world to the next.  Why should this time be any different?  You can't even draw your Key without her."

            Riku had just shrugged, trying to hide the doubts boiling within.  "She's in no state to travel as it is.  I need to go."

            "What are we gonna say to her when she wakes up, huh?" Yuffie asked harshly.  "What, 'Riku gives his best?'  Have a little heart."

            "I don't want her to go with me.  You said this world is sealed.  You said no Heartless could come here."

            "But the Heartless are the ones who knocked you off your course and into this universe," Aerith, a voice of reason, pointed out.

            "There's most likely droves of them waiting for you," Leon said.

            Riku adjusted his hair.  "It's my decision."

            "You're so cold," growled the little ninja before stalking off.

            _I might be cold_, agreed Riku.  _But maybe I'm best this way.  Ava only suffers because of me.  I…I just want to find Sora and be done with this!_

            "It _is_ somewhat unfair," Aerith said.  "If you've been partners all this time."

            "It's my choice."  Riku stood very tall and very straight.  "Just…take care of her for me."  And he walked, as best he could, away from Avarielle's door down the corridor.  The intuition was helping him again.

            He knew where he had to go.

            "It might not even work," Leon told Aerith quietly, thinking Riku couldn't hear.

            The last set of stairs was the hardest to climb.  Not because his legs were aching from the hundreds that came before, either.  It was the thought of rising to that platform where he had almost killed his best friend.

            Riku stepped to where he knew the giant Keyhole was.  He could hear the gentle whirl as the energies of the world mixed continuously together.  Deep in his chest, a little pain was stirring.

            _The heart may be weak._

            Riku touched the energy.  It surged, and he recoiled.

            _And sometimes…_

            Riku fell to his knees.

_            …it may even give in._

            Riku's barren eyes fell shut, and his teeth clenched tightly together.

_            But…_

            Riku's mind raced in circles.

_            I've learned that, deep down…_

            Riku wondered how he could draw the blade by himself.

_            …there's a light…_

            Riku's thoughts stumbled upon a possible answer.

_            …that never goes out!_

            Riku knew.

            Taking a deep breath, Riku reached into himself.  With one swift and painful movement, his fingers dug through his flesh and soul to pull out a blade buried deep.  As his hand was covered with the soaking warmth, he pushed it farther in still.  Things went a bit more painfully than expected.

            In fact, it was Hell.

            With a loud growl he grabbed onto something metal that was quickly taking on form.  He pulled it out, this act accompanied by many unpleasant ripping noises from deep inside.  No matter.  He pulled—wrenched, even.  The blade tore at his flesh as it emerged, newly formed.

            The Keyblade was now newly sharp and, unbeknownst to Riku, newly designed.  It would always be razor sharp in his hand, it would always shine bright and dark with silver and obsidian.  It would forever drip with his own blood.

            Riku swept up his weapon and jabbed it, thrusting with all his might, toward the giant Keyhole.

            His cries of agony were loud enough to drone out the weak footsteps from behind.  But her call was enough to penetrate.  Because she, too, held a Key.  She used it now to draw his attention.

            The end of the Keystaff slammed down on the floor.  Its echoes resounded through the hollow chamber.

            "Riku…" breathed Avarielle's weary voice as she stumbled forth.

            Riku paused in his effort.  He became aware of the cold wetness covering him, his hands, his blade…

            At the sound of her voice, he became aware of her weakness…

            "You…why…" Ava gasped.

            "Because I want to go alone."

            Anger invigorated her, strengthened her.  "You can't!  Just look at what you're doing to yourself—!"

            He turned around as she spoke, and the sight of him was a horror that stopped Ava cold.

            What he heard next was the sound of vomiting.  He could only imagine what he looked like, what could make a woman who had lived in the city of darkness become so violently ill.

            At last she finished, her insides emptied.

            They stood there in the chamber where so many of Fate's games had been played out.  A humid wind found it's way in from the outdoors.

            It was hot and humid.  It reeked of blood and vomit.  It was horrible.

            "You're going to bleed to death!" cried Ava as she watched Riku struggle with his self-inflicted injuries.  "Riku!"

            "I brought the Key out on my own," he heaved as the True Pain began to sink in.  It was a violent burning pain spreading out from his heart.  It was sticky and wet.  It was horrible…unreal.  Only he knew it wasn't a dream, or it wouldn't hurt so Damn Much.

            Avarielle cried out something, her words soaring high, and soon he felt the warm energy of her magic flow inside of him.  The pain still throbbed, but he felt his chest and realized the bleeding was slowing, almost ceasing.

            Riku wanted to thank her, but didn't.  It was all more than awkward.  She had confessed her love to him and he had nothing to return but frigid bitterness.  He had been about to leave without her, and she awoke to follow.

            Perhaps she knew that he needed her by his side.

            "This isn't a game, Riku," the woman mumbled.  "How will you find Sora if you're dead?"

            "I wasn't going to die," Riku insisted, the confidence falsified.  He knew the weapon in his hand now was his Keyblade modified by the stench of Death.  It could have easily brought about his own destruction.

            "Come on, Riku."

            "Right."

            He held out his bloodied Keyblade and she held her Staff against it.  Energy ripped through their bodies and they left Hollow Bastion once and for all.  They left behind the land of Ansem and the land of betrayal, and for that Riku was glad…

            Leon had been right about the Heartless.  Swarms of black clouds polluted the pastel rainbow of the Portal of Thought, the brightness dimmed by the presence of evil.

            They had been waiting.

            Well, Riku had been waiting too.  Mounting all his strength in front of him in his mind, he pushed through and destroyed the ruins of hearts with what remained of his own.  He fought fire with fire or, rather, darkness with darkness.

            Avarielle's purple light shone beside him, penetrating the shadows as her mind concentrated on the Light.

            The battle between wills was intense, mentally exhausting rather than physically.  There was no sword and no body, but there were the minds of two young people against the evil borne of humanity's weakness.

            The enemy was defeated, at least that of it which Fate had allowed to trespass in the holy Portal of Thought.  And the man and the woman were allowed to set foot in a place they had been striving for all along.

            "I know this place…  This is Kingdom Hearts!"

            As soon as Riku's feet solidified, he set them down on the ground.  He knew they were in Kingdom Hearts because Ava had told him so.  He knew he was in Kingdom Hearts because his special vision was flooded with pure light.

            Behold the endless abyss! Within lies the heart of all worlds: Kingdom Hearts! 

            If they were here…

            "Riku!" whispered Avarielle in disbelief.  She still sounded unsteady, uneasy.  But right now her voice was filled with surprise and inquiry.  "I think…"

            "Who's there?" accused a new voice.

            But it wasn't new at all.

            No matter how it had deepened, how it had matured, Riku knew the sound of his best friend's voice when he heard it.

            "Who are you?" wondered Sora, coming closer.  The racing of his steps gave away that he had not grown up in manner.  His pure golden light evidenced that he still held the purest sword of all.

            Yet Sora, a man now but still at heart an innocent child, was, of course, still capable of disbelief.  This he showed presently at the blindfolded, silver-haired man with the blood dried on his chest and dripping from his blade.  Perhaps he was also intrigued by the short dark-skinned vixen, but significantly less at the moment.

            Ava's shortness of breath showed she wanted to say something but didn't.

            Yes, it was Riku's turn to speak, to say something Important as that radiant golden light came closer still, inspecting, wondering.  Riku's mind grew desperately blank.  Sora…  Kairi…  Happiness.

            "You let me down, Sora.  You promised you'd take care of Kairi."  Riku's words were driven by nervous laughter, or maybe by the arrogance he had projected so many times in his puzzling youth.

            "Kai—!"  The golden light froze.  Riku imagined his friend's face fill with recognition, with the shocking realization that this stranger was really…  "_Riku_?"

            Ava released her guiding hand just in time:  Sora came rushing at the other man all at once in an ecstatic embrace.  Apparently, he wasn't bothered by the wounded, naked chest, the blindfolded eyes—or any of it.

            Riku ignored the pain in his chest and returned Sora's gesture happily, muscled arms reaching around Sora's grown body.  The spiky hair was still there, most likely browner than ever.  The clothes felt strange, smooth and slippery, but what did that matter?

            It was Sora.

            Riku's tears gathered beneath the folds of the material stretched over his face.  Sora, who he thought he'd never be near again.

            Sora let go after only a second, the friendly gesture over and done with but the feelings behind it still lingering in the air.

            "I can't believe you're here!" Sora said, his usual lively self.  "I just got here a few minutes ago."

            "Are Goofy and Donald with you?"

            Sora's pendant jingled.  He was probably shaking his head no.  "We got separated a while ago…  I think they returned to King Mickey."

            "Then he's all right?"

            "I'm assuming so.  He sent me a message…  I was supposed to do this without Donald or Goofy…  I've been journeying alone since.  But…I'm so glad you're here!"

            The blind man wondered if Sora had changed at all.  In a way, Riku hoped he hadn't.

            "Were you going to open the Door?"

            "That was the plan," Sora laughed.  "But…"  He quickly became somber.  "I couldn't get it work.  You guys…you have Keys—you can tell me about them later—but maybe now we can work together to open it!"

            Avarielle asked Riku quietly, "How do we know if this is the true Door to the Light?"

            Sora must have noticed the woman for the first time then.  "Hello.  I'm Sora—Riku's friend."

            "I…I know," she replied, unsure.  "My name is Avarielle.  I'm, er, Riku's partner."

            "That's great.  Is that staff you've got a Key?"

            "Yes…  When I took one of Riku's Keyblades, it turned into this."

            "Let's get going," Riku broke in.  Explanations _could_ come later, couldn't they?  "Let's open the Door and go home."

            Avarielle slowly took Riku's hand into hers and they walked toward where the white light was at its whitest, its purest.  Sora's golden light almost outshone that of the Door—at the very least, they were on the same level of brightness.

            Riku readjusted his grip on the Keyblade.  The trio finally stopped, just paces in front of destiny.

            Riku felt like smirking, and did.  Take that, Fate.

            All the loneliness…all the trials…and the suffering that he had been through.  It would all be worth it.  It would all end here, having climaxed at this very point.  The worlds in the other universe that had been dissolved by darkness would be washed clean.  Caelestis, the city of darkness, would either be destroyed or sealed forever.  The worlds that had been fractured by the Heartless would return to normal.  The people afflicted would return home.

            Riku, Sora, and Kairi could be home together on Destiny Islands, talking and playing games under the tropical sun.

            Everything would be as it should have been long ago.  Everything would be perfect.

            All they had to do was open the Door to the Light.

            Riku took a deep breath, just as he heard Sora and Avarielle doing on either side of him.

            They held up their Keys, touching at the very center of the Door.  They closed their eyes and prayed.

            _Together, we can do it!_

            The ground disappeared beneath their feet.  It was just the three of them, drifting in space as they pressed their energies forth toward the Door.  Pressing harder and harder, their Keys nearly melding..

            I know now, without a doubt. Kingdom Hearts...is light! 

            The Door opened.

            It was such energy, such power he couldn't begin to comprehend.  It threw Riku, sent him tumbling backwards into the air, spinning wildly.  He looked with his battle sight, and in that he was nearly blind too.  The True Light spread out in wide, pure arrows, bound for all worlds touched by the Heartless.

            The Light kept pouring out as Riku struggled to regain his composure.

            "_YES!_" cried Sora from somewhere close by.

            "The light…it's so warm…" Avarielle whispered from the other side.

            _No matter how deep the darkness, a light shines within…_

            And as the light finished spilling out into the universes, finished granting the wishes of all those oppressed by the darkness, Riku saw something that made him wonder.  Could darkness also survive within light?

            The ground reappeared and the three drifted back down.  The Door was wide open now, the Door to the Light.

            But the Door to the Light could also be the Door from the Darkness.

            There was darkness swirling on the other side, existing in its proper position:  parallel to the light.

            "Now we will return to where we're meant to be," Sora said, his grin practically audible.  He was oblivious to what was worrying Riku.  Perhaps he could not see with his ordinary eyes the morbid colors spinning beyond the Door.

            "We've done it," breathed Avarielle.  "It's over."

            She spoke too soon.

            Immediately, tendrils of darkness jutted out from the Door and tangled muscular fibers around her neck.  The clouds of gray and black began churning just beyond the Door.  They would not spill out into what was now Light, but instead teased the two horrified men left barely outside their border.

            Avarielle's purple light was thrown high and dropped low as her shrill screams of dismay cut through the air.  She was being pulled back…

            "Caelestis!"

            "No…_no_…"  Riku tried to step forward, but Sora's Keyblade connected with his chest, blocking him from thoughtlessly proceeding.

            "_Riku_…"

            "No, I can't be going back there!" Avarielle cried out.

            A voice began to resound through Kingdom Hearts.  It boomed, somber and commanding.

            "_The Door to the Light has been opened.  The worlds of men are bathed in Light.  The City of Darkness must still thrive to balance the power.  If there are to be many worlds of light, there must be a place in the deepest depths of evil.  A world without hearts will preserve worlds of happiness."_

            "Your majesty!  But why—?" Sora called out, recognizing the King's voice immediately.

_            "It is time for everyone to return to his proper place.  The girl belongs to Caelestis."_

            "Riku…"

            He ran for Avarielle's voice.  He reached out and took her hand as she fought for that final moment with the man she loved.

            "I understand now, Riku."  She had become impossibly calm.

            "Understand what?" he pleaded.

            "Caelestis…  Maybe it _is_ my home…"

            "No!  That can't be!  You belong to the light!"

            "Perhaps there is even hope for a city shrouded in darkness…"

            Riku was sweating, shaking, and maybe even crying.  He had been ready to leave Ava behind at Hollow Bastion, but he wouldn't let her be taken away from him.  He hadn't even told her yet.

            "Hey, you're my partner, aren't you?"

            "Oh, Riku…"

            "Ava—I _need_ you!"

            Riku had never planned on telling her, but it seemed now or never.  He wouldn't let her give up.  Avarielle was…

            She began to cry softly, her tears falling to land on their clasped hands as the darkness pulled her farther into its lair.  "It's time for you to go home, Riku."

            With that, she was gone.


	16. debello

**_debello_**_ -are intransit. [to fight to the end , finish a war]; transit. [to fight out] a fight; [to conquer] an enemy._

**Act III, Scene Six**: Debello.

            _"The Door is closing.  This is the end of your quest, Sora.  You have opened the Door to the Light."_

            "The voice…all along…it was the King," Sora mumbled in disbelief.  "Wait—Riku!  Where are you going?"

            Riku's feet were carrying him into the deep blackness that was framed by the blinding light, the True Light.  He froze in his sprint.  "I can't go home just yet, Sora.  I have to get her back."

_When you walk away  
You don't hear me say _

_Please, oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go_

            The golden light neared.  "What I _meant_ to say was, 'Where are you going without me?'"

            Riku flashed Sora a relieved smile.  "Thanks."

            "Aw, c'mon.  We'd better hurry."

            The Door began to swing shut.  The two young men leapt into the remaining opening, leaving the world of light.  Maybe leaving behind their own chance to get home.  But they both knew the risks.  They weren't children anymore.

            As they entered Caelestis—it smelled so wretched, it just _had_ to be Caelestis—Riku felt the darkness sinking down like a heavy fog, settling into his bones.  Yes, he had once been tolerant of this feeling.  Now it hit him like a wind.

            For Sora, it had to be a hundred times worse.

            Sora grunted as the waves of darkness washed over him, but he said nothing and his feet splashed steadily in the wet streets.

            "This is the birthplace of all Heartless," Riku said.  "They're going to be drawn to us—you especially."

            "I'm used to it," Sora threw back, his breathing steady, almost rhythmic.  Obviously, he hadn't been lying.

            "Here they come!" Riku cried out as the shadows crept into his line of vision.

            "What—where—oh, I see now!"  Regular sight was obviously not as good at detecting light and darkness.

            The sounds of Key against Heartless came, Sora cutting his blade through the monsters.  Riku was close behind, swinging in his wide arcs as his extra sharp weapon tasted its first prey.

            "Man, those were some _ugly_ guys," Sora joked when the first batch of the enemy had been properly dispensed.

            Riku found that he was able to smile.  Sora had a hero's strength and a man's experience, but still he retained a child's humor and optimism.

            But he had Sora, and Sora was all right.  He didn't have to worry about Sora right now.  He had to worry about who he didn't have, who probably wasn't all right.

_You're giving me too many things lately_

_You're all I need  
You smiled at me and said,_

            "Riku…we'll find her," the younger man assured his friend.  "If you never give up hope, you can do anything."

            "You can even save universes," Riku added quietly to himself.  _Saving one person from the darkness should be easier than that._

            "Watch out!  There's a big one up ahead!" Sora warned.  "Right in the middle of that square!"

            "Got it!" Riku called back.  The rain was picking up, drowning out all other sounds.  The ground grew wetter and he fought not to slip.  An enormous orb of darkness twice as tall and three times as round as he and Sora put together was sitting a few yards ahead.

            "I'm going around to the right—you take the left!"

            "Sounds good!"

            They came at it together, golden Key and bloodied Key hitting at once from either side.  The enormous Heartless roared in protest of being so effectively slain by hit after slice after strike.  In less than ten minutes, it had turned to smoke, and Sora's golden light was running around (collecting the spoils of battle?).

            "Phew," Sora breathed.  "Thanks for the help."

            "No problem."  Riku wiped sweat from his forehead and took a deep sigh.  "So, where are we?"

            "On a big street…  Hmm.  It looks like there's some sort of square or whatever down that way."

            "That's the middle of the city.  Let's go."

_Don't get me wrong I love you  
But does that mean I have to meet your father?  
When we are older you'll understand  
What I meant when I said "No,  
I don't think life is quite that simple"_

            Sora helped Riku maneuver around the trashcans and boxes that clogged the alley.  Their steps were slow and soggy; the water had dammed up in places to make puddles as deep as one or two feet.

            They came to the open area that existed in the center of Caelestis.  Shadows were littered everywhere, more entering with each second.  Sora ran right and Riku left until their battles converged in the middle of the swarming creatures.

            "They're everywhere…  What are we going to do?" Sora asked before grunting and taking down a flying Heartless.

            "We have to find Ava," insisted the other through gritted teeth.  Every minute that passed…

            "Ah!"

            "What?  What is it?"

            "There's a person over there…  What's _wrong_ with him?"  Sora sounded entirely disturbed.  Riku knew it must be the sight of a Caelestis man.  His eyes must be barren, his cheeks sunken in past the bones.

            "There's more—what's going on!  They look…_possessed_!"

            "It's all right," Riku said.  "It's just what this city is like."

            "I think I'm gonna be sick," Sora said bitterly.  "What an awful world..."

            "We have to worry about the Heartless."

            "I know.  Looks like they're ready to get us."

            "We won't let that happen!" Riku cried, pumping his legs to capacity in a split second.  He was racing toward the swarm, swinging in huge circles.  He almost laughed as he fought.  His eyes were no good to him now, but his heart was in his hand.  He was going to fight with it.

_When you walk away  
You don't hear me say,_

_Please, oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go_

            Riku launched himself into the air.  He sliced at the flying monsters, the shadows that thought they were beyond his reach.

            _If this is all they've got, they'd better be ready to give up!_

            Swing, cut, stab.  Over and over he twirled his blade expertly, to this side and then that.  He had taken down three quarters of the opponents while Sora patiently used spells from the center for the larger foes, as well as for healing.

            Sora's magic didn't have the same warmth to it as Avarielle's, but it was powerful and felt good pumping through Riku's veins.

            _How does it feel to be defeated by a blind opponent?_

            He had so much confidence now.  He didn't have time for doubts.  He didn't consider Fate's meddling.  His mind was on saving Ava.  And that was only a matter of time.

            "This batch is done!" called Sora from many yards back.  He continued speaking as Riku walked toward him.  "I think we'd better look for her now.  You fight really well, Riku, so how about you take care of the Heartless down here.  You can have my blade—"

            Riku took his bloodied Keyblade from his shoulder and shook his head no, silver hair dancing.  "Uh-uh.  This time, Sora," he announced, holding out the weapon with both hands, "_I'm_ the delivery boy.  You fight with my Key, and I'll find her."

            Sora slowly took the blade.

            "It's heavy," he commented.

            Riku reached up with both hands and tightened his blindfold.  He no longer even had his special sight, but he knew that he could find her.  In this place, they had first found each other.  Her heart and his had called out for one another.

            In Caelestis, he was sure he could find her.

_The daily things that keep us all busy  
Are confusing me  
That's when you came to me and said,_

            "You'd better be on your way," Sora advised.

            Riku said nothing more.  He only nodded to his friend and began to run.  He no longer needed his eyes to see or his Keyblade to detect.  He needed only to _feel_ with his own heart.

            He was surprised when his path took him up stairs.  Stairs had always challenged him before.  He tore his way past unseen obstacles, climbing—flying—upward, around and around.  He was wet, the building was wet, each stair was wet.

            _I won't let the darkness claim her!  Ava doesn't belong in this place!_

            Riku slipped once but caught himself, the palms of both hands dragging along rough concrete.  He ignored the stinging pain and continued his ascent until he stood on the roof.  He knew he was on top of the whole city.

            "Avarielle!" he screamed with his lungs, mind, and heart.

            Several stories below him, shadows were congealing next to Sora.

            The echoes of battle rose to Riku's ears.  But Sora could surely handle himself.

            The wind came up, running its moist fingers through the silver strands of Riku's hair, pulling at his clothes.

            Riku smiled a confident smile and ripped off the blindfold.  He didn't need it anymore.  His clouded eyes were no longer his shame.  They were his gift.

            "Avarielle!" he cried out a second time.

            The rain began to die off, the clouds pulling back to reveal the cold, naked sky.

            _"Riku!"_ her voice screamed inside the man's mind.

_Wish I could prove I love you  
But does that mean I have to walk on water?  
When we are older you'll understand  
It's enough when I say so  
And maybe some things are that simple_

            He whipped his head around.  Right.  Left.  Up.

            Riku saw nothing, but he knew she was ahead of him, many feet away.  A world away, maybe.  But it didn't matter.

            Their hearts were connected.

            _"I can't escape this monster…"_

            "Sora!" bellowed Riku, hoping he could reach his friend far below.  "I need my Key back!"

            Everything was unreal beyond that point.  Riku was thrown off his balance, like the world was shifting beneath his feet.  Like the building was slanting backward.  He jumped and landed on a buzzing glass surface.

            Sora's feet slammed along the side of the building, coming closer and closer as he banished all the Heartless in his way.

            "Catch!"

            The Keyblade spun through the air with a whir.  Riku, running, reached out and caught it.

           He also caught sight of the purple light so far away, so weak.  He took a flying leap past Sora, forsaking gravity, Fate, and whatever else hoped to intervene.

_When you walk away   
You don't hear me say_

_Please, oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go_

            "Riku!" Sora tried to call after.

            "This guy is mine!" Riku yelled back, already wearing the sneer he planned to show his enemy.  "Watch my back!"

            Riku found himself on a chunk of metal and concrete, floating in a pool of darkness.  He couldn't tell with his modified sight if that sea was just regular darkness, or a fleet of enemies ready to strike.  He found he didn't much care.

            "Ava!" he yelled, practically doing the splits as he tried to steady himself.  He slammed his Keyblade downward to whine against a twisted piece of metal.  This thing he stood upon seemed almost like a fragment of the city.  He wondered if Caelestis was falling apart.

            He was more than correct in his assumptions, but that is something for Fate to take care of.

            _"What's happening to this place?  Everything's breaking up…  It's like we're all above the sky…"_

            Hearing Ava's bewildered thoughts, Riku was glad he couldn't see at this point.  There were no ethereal sights to hurt his concentration.

            He tensed his legs before making a jump for the next fragment or world.  He catapulted rather effectively, soaring up and over until his knees slammed down onto fractured cobblestone.

_Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings, the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before_

            Avarielle's light was right in front of him, with the darkness swarming all around her.

            _"Look out!"_

            He slunk down into a battle position, holding his blade out, pointed at his enemy.  It was a challenge to the shadows, and the shadows accepted.

            Riku jumped and spun in the air, crashing his Keyblade down and letting it sink deep into the Heartless.

            It cried out and Avarielle's purple light tumbled downward.

            _"Riku, finish it off before it pushes us both off into space!"_

            The voice that echoed inside his mind was worried and weak, but it was able to give him strength.  Since he had entered Caelestis for the second time, he had kept fixed in his mind pure confidence.  He would save Ava, he would leave.

            Riku's second strike was aimed right for the middle of the Heartless, but the thing had an arm—or a tentacle, or something—and used it to bat the man away.  His unused arm flew backward over the edge of the concrete.

            He felt Avarielle's warm curing energy pour over his body and he jumped to his feet.  He looked to the side and saw the purple glow that was his partner up again and approaching the Heartless.

            Before Riku knew it, his body was wrapped in the darkness.  The thing brought him up and swung him in the air, teasing him.  He slashed wildly at the arm until it broke, dissolved, and promptly dropped him to the ground.

            But it was hardly the ground.  It was the edge, and he was barely clinging on, trying with all his might not to release the Keyblade hanging down into the darkness. 

_When you walk away  
You don't hear me say please  
Oh baby, don't go  
Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight  
It's hard to let it go_

            But the golden light had made it over to catch him, Sora's gloved hand wrapped around Riku's.  "The fight's not over yet."

            "It will be soon," Riku replied boldly, crawling back over the edge with his friend's aid.  He wasted no time in charging his opponent, burying his blade deep within the smelly flesh.

            "Come on!" he urged his partners.

            "You got it!" Sora said.  He and Avarielle came at the monster from either side, delivering the final blows to the giant Heartless at the same instant.

            The monster melted away into a pool of shadows before disappearing for good.

            Avarielle's small body leaned against Riku's.

_Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before_

            "It's over," Sora breathed.  "After all of that, it's _got_ to be over."

            Riku just smiled.

**Epilogue**

            On their journey back to the Destiny Islands, Riku had managed to piece together bits of information he acquired from the people he and his friends encountered.  He couldn't fully comprehend the 'miracle' that was Caelestis, nor did he want to.  For the rest of his days, the man wanted nothing more than to be a simple mortal.

            He knew that there would no longer be a City of Darkness.  He also knew that the universes would no longer be filled with the True Light.  He fully understood that evil would be in every world.

            But isn't that how things should be?

            Riku had never agreed with the statements King Mickey had made at Kingdom Hearts.  That one world so evil should be permitted to exist so that everything else was perfect.

            Nobody needed to live in perfection.  Besides, perfection wasn't bliss at all.

            "A coin has two sides, and so does a heart," Avarielle had told Riku once.  She had been right.  There is good and evil in every heart.  It is up to each person to be strong enough to overcome the darkness within himself.

            Caelestis, too, was being reformed.  Light trickled in constantly, and darkness out.  Of course, it would never again be hailed the sacred birthplace of life (that indeed it was), but it no longer would be feared as the evilest of worlds, the birthplace of Heartless.

            Kingdom Hearts, the bridge between the realms of evil and good, failed to exist.  The Door had been opened, the Door had been closed, and the need for the Door had been eliminated.

            Riku and Sora had also discussed at length their Keyblades, which had since disappeared completely.  Not even Riku's chains or Avarielle's pendant remained.  This was a sign that the threat was over, and relieved everyone involved.

            They had also determined that four Keys existed in all.  King Mickey had his, and, of course, Sora had always held his own Keyblade, the one that had come to him for his first adventure.  Avarielle had held the Key that Riku had once summoned, the one capable of unlocking people's hearts—the weapon that had almost cost Sora his light, and many worlds' their existence.  And Riku's blade this time had been harvested from the depths of his own heart, from his own grief for having caused the first set of tragedies.

            Riku was confident in finding out that the worlds would be separated less rigidly than before.  A person would belong to where his heart most wanted to be.  Quistis, Vincent, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith…they might be able to return to their childhood homes.  And Kairi could stay on the Islands.

            Riku fulfilled his promise.  He brought Sora home to Kairi, and Kairi began to return to her old self:  silly and joking and bubbling over with happiness.

            Time passed quickly and slowly, as time as apt to do, as Riku and his best friends lived happily on the island.  They had all been forced to grow up in the face of tragedy, and the easygoing tropical life permitted them to put the battles with the darkness behind them.

            One evening on the beach, as the setting sun warmed Riku's face (which was tan again, of course), and after a hearty desert of coconut sundaes, they all stretched out together in the warm sand.  The sky was beautiful, the girls were beautiful, and life was beautiful.

            Riku had one arm around Ava's shoulders and the other placed gently on her belly, where his child, a child he would never see, was growing.  He could hear Kairi's shrill cries as Sora laughed; he was probably tickling her ruthlessly.

            Riku just held Ava close, leaning his head back to take in the salty breeze and absorb the warm rays of the dying sun.  His blindness was very much a part of him now, and he didn't mind at all.  Avarielle had promised faithfully to describe to him every sunrise, every sunset, and every smile on their child's face.

_Hold me  
Whatever lies beyond this morning  
Is a little later on  
Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all  
Nothing's like before_

**[End _fatalis_]**


	17. optional author's wrap up

_An author's ramblings and explanations.  Fun trivia for the masses!_

This story started with the author playing Kingdom Hearts for the second time through and realizing that Riku is not, in fact, the biggest jerk in existence, but a very cool and sympathetic character that she loved!  Some sixteen chapters, 40,000 words, and 126 pages later, I give you _fatalis_ in its entirety.

_fatalis _first evolved from the "secret" trailer at the end of the game ("Another Side, Another Story") and the City of Darkness featured there, along with a bunch of Latin terms that I have to credit for to the Latin Dictionary and Grammar Aid at the Notre Dame University site.  (You can find the link in my profile.) 

Avarielle was actually not part of my original ideas at all.  But as soon as I put her in, the story just took off in my brain quicker than I could type.  I don't care if she's a little bit of a Mary Sue—I love her!  (You really wouldn't believe how much I love Riku and Ava considering what I did in the next to last chapter, huh?)  She _did_ have a Key, she _did_ use magic, Riku (eventually) _did _love her, but I really tried to build her character into someone that people could understand, respect, and—just maybe—even like.  The ending (with Ava carrying Riku's baby) I had been thinking about for the past few weeks.  It's what I really wanted to happen, so I'm sorry for all of you anti-OC people.  I am a Sora x Kairi person, and I wanted Riku to be happy at the end…^.^

The last chapter of _fatalis_ was based on the {deep dive} ending found in Kingdom Hearts Final Mix—which I did not know existed until downloading it halfway through writing this story.  That thing is as confusing, if more so, than the bonus we got in America.  Yeah, I'm gonna die soon if I can't play KH2. ;_;

Ohh, and I know it might have been confusing with all the stuff about Light and Darkness and Keys and blah blah blah, but I tried to be creative with that.  I hope I communicated my thoughts effectively, but that would be a rare thing indeed.  And…yeah.  Oh!  And I kinda suck at anything but angst, so that's why I didn't have as much action as I originally intended.  I really tortured my characters, didn't I?  -_-;

I think I'll wrap it up here, starting with a big thank you for Square and Disney for the game, Utada Hikaru and Yoko Shimomura for the music—as well as the composers and performers of all other music I listened to while writing or thinking about the story.  And, of course, a **huge** thanks for my readers/reviewers.  I maintain that I would write if I had a hundred readers or zero (which I did, for a long time; I wrote for myself only), but y'all are such a nice lil' bonus.  Writing is a huge part of me, and it really warms my heart to know that, somewhere in the world, someone else is enjoying my stories too.

If you're wondering, I have no other KH stories in the works right now.  I am going to return to my epic Zelda story, _Lost Dreams_, after at least a year and a half O.o  Two of my best friends read it and are now rabid fans, and I promised them I'd take it up again.  I've also gotta finish _Vunajan du Sa_, my FFX story, before the sequel comes out and laughs at my plot.  I do hope to write KH again someday, though.

Well… I guess that's it.  I feel a little sad, wrapping up this story.  *sniff*  Thank you again for reading.  I love you all!  ^_^


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